“A game of snake and ladder”: Tracing Manish Sisodia’s 17-month journey to bail

A Division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan granted bail to former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia on 9 August 2024. Sisodia was arrested in the Delhi liquor policy scam in February 2023.

Sisodia was among the many accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who were arrested in relation to the Delhi Liquor Policy case. Kejriwal, Sisodia and others were accused of facilitating kickbacks to leaders of AAP while drafting Delhi’s Liquor Policy for 2021-22. The CBI and ED alleged that the scrapped policy provided preferential treatment to private entities involved in the liquor business. Similar to Kejriwal, Sisodia was arrested by both the CBI and the ED resulting in multiple rounds of appeals and bail applications at trial courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

17 months have passed since Sisodia was arrested, with trial yet to begin in either the CBI or the ED’s cases against him. Across various hearings before the top Court, the two investigative agencies sought for more and more time, stating that the case was complex, that investigation was underway and then later, that it was nearly complete with trial around the corner. In the Supreme Court’s order which granted bail to Sisodia, Justice Gavai observed that Sisodia’s “long period of incarceration” with trial “yet to see the light of day,” deprived Sisodia “of his right to speedy trial.”. 

In these 17 months Sisodia has approached the Supreme Court in three rounds, with the recent bail order concluding his third round. When investigative agencies fought against the maintainability of his plea for bail before the top Court, the Bench responded that relegating Sisodia to once again approach the trial court and then the High Court before reaching the doors of the Supreme Court “would be making him play a game of Snake and Ladder.”

In this timeline, we map Sisodia’s climb up ladder of appeals and the fall on the snake of systemic, investigative and judicial setbacks from 26 February 2023 to 9 August 2024: 

26 February 2023 

Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI under the Delhi Liquor Policy scam. The arrest took place six months after Sisodia and 14 other persons were named in a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the CBI in August 2022. The investigation was prompted by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor who found irregularities in the operation of the Delhi Liquor Policy. 

Sisodia was accused of criminal conspiracy and corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PCA) and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). After the FIR by the CBI, the ED also ran a concurrent investigation in the case. Two days after his arrest, Sisodia resigned from his post as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. 

9 March 2023 

The ED who was investigating the case arrested Sisodia, and levied charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). During this time, Sisodia was lodged in the Tihar jail. The arrest came after the ED interrogated him inside the jail premises. 

31 March 2023

A Trial Court in Delhi rejected Sisodia’s bail petition. The Trial Court observed that releasing Sisodia would hamper the investigation significantly. Based on the evidence presented by the CBI, it said that a prima facie review showed reason to believe that Sisodia was the “architect” of the liquor policy scam. Sisodia had argued that he was not a flight risk. This was countered by the CBI stating that Sisodia was in a position of influence. 

Meanwhile, the CBI and the ED continued probing other accused in the case. Notably, in April 2023, Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI. He would be arrested by the CBI over a year later in June 2024. 

28 April 2023 

A Trial Court in Delhi rejected Sisodia’s bail petition in the ED’s money laundering case. Sisodia in Court had argued that the ED had no jurisdiction to investigate, and had shown no material or evidence pointing towards him. The ED opposed his bail application stating that they had discovered crucial evidence which pointed towards his complicity in the case. The Trial Court reasoned that they were not inclined to grant a bail to Sisodia at the current stage of investigation. 

Meanwhile, members of AAP were being closely investigated by the ED. Reports emerged of the ED conducting raids at AAP members and their associates’ homes. 

30 May 2023

Sisodia’s bail application in the CBI’s case was appealed to the Delhi High Court. He had argued that the CBI lacked evidence to demonstrate his alleged involvement in the case. The CBI responded that evidence was sufficient to show that Sisodia was closely associated with bureaucrats and authorities. The High Court rejected this application stating that Sisodia was in a position to influence witnesses in light of his status as the former Deputy Chief Minister. 

Notably, at this point, all accused persons in the case had been granted bail except Sisodia. 

3 July 2023 

The Delhi High Court dismissed Sisodia’s bail application in the ED case . The High Court observed that Sisodia failed to pass the twin conditions for bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The twin conditions state that the accused has to prove that they are prima facie not guilty and are unlikely to commit the offence. Further, it observed that the ‘triple test’ for bail in the CBI case was not satisfied either. The triple test dictates that the accused is not a flight risk, will not influence witnesses, and tamper evidence. 

6 July 2023 

With four unfavourable orders in the CBI and ED case, Sisodia moved to the Supreme Court appealing against both decisions in the Delhi High Court. 

30 October 2023

A Division Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.V. Bhatti rejected Sisodia’s bail plea. The criminal complaint filed by the ED in May 2023 had established that some big liquor distributors had earned a collective profit of nearly ₹338 crore due to increased licence fee from the liquor policy. This fact was never challenged or denied by Sisodia’s counsels. The CBI in its charge sheet also alleged that the collection of ₹338 crore excess profit constituted an offence of bribery of public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The bench expressed doubts about “certain aspects” including the Union’s argument that Sisodia had tampered with a mobile phone evidence which had not yet been recovered. But it noted that the fact that a money transfer worth ₹338 crores had taken place as a result of the policy was “tentatively established.” 

However, the Bench reassured Sisodia that if the trial was not concluded in the next six to eight months, he could file a fresh bail plea. In the next few months, the review and curative pleas against this decision were dismissed.

30 April 2024

The Rouse Avenue Courts in Delhi rejected yet another bail plea by Sisodia seeking to meet his wife who suffered from multiple sclerosis. In a big setback, the trial court even observed that Sisodia was delaying the trial on the liquor policy by filing “frivolous applications”. The prosecutors for CBI had pressed that Sisodia was a figure with a lot of “political clout” and given that he was the main figure in the case, he should not be treated on parity with the other accused who had all, but one, received bail. The only other person was also the latest arrestee—the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who had been picked up only a month ago.

2 May 2024

Sisodia challenged the Rouse Avenue Court’s decision in the Delhi High Court.

21 May 2024

The Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea noting that the case evidenced a “grave misuse of power and breach of public trust.” It observed that prima facie evidence suggested that Sisodia had misused his portfolios to fabricate public opinion on the policy. The Court, however, approved a condition that Sisodia be permitted to meet his ailing wife once a week as per certain terms and conditions.

4 June 2024

A Vacation Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta refused to entertain a bail plea by Sisodia, but they gave him liberty to “revive” his bail plea afresh as soon as the final charge sheet and prosecution complaint were filed by the CBI and ED, respectively. The bench recorded an undertaking by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the same would be filed in the trial court by 3 July 2024.

16 July 2024

After more than eight months had passed since the top Court’s initial rejection of Sisodia’s bail plea in October, his counsel filed a fresh bail application in the Supreme Court. A Division Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai, Sanjay Karol and K.V. Viswanathan issued notice to CBI and ED. Sisodia’s counsel argued that his trial was moving at a “snail’s pace”.

6 August 2024

The top Court reserved judgement on Sisodia’s bail plea. In the hearings leading up to this, the ED had complained that Sisodia was intentionally delaying the trial by filing “frivolous” applications for inspection of documents. But the Court could not buy this. Firstly, it found that nearly all the applications for inspection had been successful, meaning that Sisodia had raised legitimate objections which the Trial Court itself had not dismissed, and secondly, that as per 30 October order of the Court, the trial should not have moved at a “snail’s pace”. It did not matter whether the trial was being delayed by the prosecution or accused.

9 August 2024

After 17 months of incarceration, a  Division Bench of Justices Gavai and Viswanathan granted bail to Sisodia noting that his “right to speedy trial” had been violated. They noted that given the inordinate delays, asking Sisodia to approach the Trial Court again waiting for him to slowly reach the top Court, “would be making him play a game of “Snake and Ladder”. SCO’s summary of the judgement and the Court’s reasoning is here.