Nearly 18 months after the CBI arrested him, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was reportedly released from Tihar jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the liquor policy case.
Sisodia was first arrested in February 2023 in connection with “irregularities” in Delhi’s liquor policy. The CBI had then said that he was “evasive” and uncooperative during an interrogation. A day after the arrest, the AAP protested against the BJP’s “vendetta politics”.
According to Livelaw, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said, “We find that on account of long incarceration running around 17 months and trial having not been commenced, the appellant has been deprived of the right to speedy trial.” It noted that there is no remotest possibility of trial being completed in the near future as there are over 400 witnesses and thousands of documents, and to keep Sisodia under custody through it would result in violation of the fundamental right to personal liberty.
The court said the AAP leader has “deep roots in the society” and was not a flight-risk and there is no possibility of tampering with evidence. In addition, the court also said that there was no error in the trial court and the High Court’s decision to reject his previous bail pleas, but they had erred in not considering the delay in trial.
Notably, in the months following Sisodia’s arrest, AAP leader Sanjay Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were also arrested in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. Singh was granted bail in April, while Kejriwal remains incarcerated.
Newslaundry has extensively reported on the court proceedings in the matter. Read here.
Update at 7 pm on August 9: This piece and its headline have been updated with details about Sisodia being released from prison.
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