Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued his decision on Sisodia’s bail application. Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister of Delhi, had his bail request denied by the Delhi High Court on Monday due to suspected irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy. In addition to dismissing Sisodia’s bail request, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma also ruled on the bail petitions filed in the case by Vijay Nair, the former Aam Aadmi Party communications director, Abhishek Boinpally, a businessman based in Hyderabad, and Binoy Babu Binoy, a manager with the liquor company M/S Pernod Ricard. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation first detained the Aam Aadmi Party leader on February 26 for his suspected involvement in the scam, and he has been in detention ever since.  He has previously been denied bail by the high court in the CBI case as of May 30. In connection with a complaint made by the Enforcement Directorate, Manish Sisodia was detained on March 9.  On June 2, the high court held off on making a decision regarding Sisodia’s bail request. Sisodia has cited a number of reasons for needing bail, including the state of his wife’s multiple sclerosis patient ‘s declining health.

However, the ED had objected to his and the other accused people’s bail requests. The CBI and ED, the agencies in charge of the investigation in this matter, claim that irregularities were committed when changing the excise policy and that licence holders were given unfair advantages. Manish Sisodia said that he was the “architect” of the alleged scheme and had taken the lead role in its planning when the trial court refused his bail request in a decision dated March 31, “most important and vital role” in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of Rs 90-100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.

The Delhi government put the policy into effect on November 17, 2021, however it was removed by the end of September 2022 due to suspicions of corruption. On May 30, the court denied Sisodia’s request for bail in the excise policy fraud case under investigation by the CBI, stating that because of his position of power and the seriousness of the charges against him, witnesses, many of whom are public workers, might be swayed.