HC asks CBI for report on Sisodia's interim bail on grounds of wife's illness

The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the CBI to file a status report on a plea by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia arrested in the Delhi excise policy case seeking interim bail on grounds of his wifes illnessJustice Dinesh Kumar Sharma asked the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to make an endeavour to file the report by Thursday when the court is scheduled to hear Sisodias plea seeking regular bailSisodias counsel submitted that the medical condition of the senior AAP leaders wife needs urgent attention and urged the court to release him on interim bailThe counsel for the CBI said it may not be possible to furnish the report on ThursdayAlso Read Manish Sisodiarsquos judicial custody extendedTo this the court asked him to try and make efforts to file the report by Thursday so that the application could be heard along with Sisodias regular bail pleaThe CBI had arrested Sisodia for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the nowscrapped Delhi Excise Policy 202122 on February 26 following several rounds of questioningOn March 31 the trial court here had dismissed Sisodias bail plea in the matter saying he was prima facie the architect of the scam and had played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of Rs 90100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi governmentThe high court had earlier issued a notice and asked the CBI to file its reply to Sisodias regular bail plea He has challenged the trial courts order denying him bail in the caseSisodias counsel had earlier said the lower court has not considered the medical condition of the AAP leaders wife who is suffering from multiple sclerosis He said the condition of Sisodias wife was deterioratingHe had said all the offences alleged against Sisodia are punishable with imprisonment up to seven years something which should weigh in favour of the AAP leaderThe lawyer had said the allegation that he was a recipient of the proceeds of crime was all in air and no money trail leading to him has been foundSisodia has sought parity for him with the other accused who have got the relief and claimed that he was not in a position to influence the witnesses in the case or tamper with evidenceThe CBI has opposed his bail plea saying that the excise policy was manipulated to favour cartelisation and monopolisation in liquor trade in the national capital and Sisodia and businessman Vijay Nair were the main conspiratorsIt has said the accused wanted to make money but at the same time they wanted to show that they were transparent which they were notIt was a fraud a scam whereby money was to be made But they wanted to show they are transparent Manufacturers wholesalers and retailers of liquor were all connected Rs 90100 crore bribe was paid before the policy fructified The involvement of Manish Sisodia was at the helm of all things CBIs counsel had arguedThe CBI in its written reply opposing Sisodias bail plea claimed that the AAP leader was involved in commission of grave economic offences and was key to unravelling the modus operandi of the crimeIt said the bail plea was devoid of any merit and was an attempt to misuse the intricacies of law to thwart the progress of investigation in the caseWhile the CBI contended that Sisodia is the kingpin and architect of the conspiracy and his influence and clout disentitle him to any parity with the coaccused enlarged on bail the AAP leader urged the high court to grant him bail claiming no money trail linking him to the proceeds of alleged crime has been foundThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever