Sisodia withdraws interim bail pleas filed before Delhi HC to help his ailing wife
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 May, 2023 12:25 PM
New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday withdrew his interim bail pleas filed before the Delhi High Court in connection with the corruption and money laundering cases being probed by the CBI and ED related to the excise policy.
The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said: "Noting that the condition of the petitioner's wife has improved and is stable, the interim applications are dismissed as withdrawn."
The senior AAP leader had moved the high court on April 3, seeking interim bail in the case on the grounds of his wife's illness.
The same single-judge bench had on May 11 directed the jail superintendent to provide Sisodia with a video conferencing facility to speak to his wife every alternate day between 3-4 p.m. as per prison rules, till the disposal of the bail plea.
Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju said he had earlier argued suppression as it was not mentioned in the application that the wife was discharged.
He added that the applications were being withdrawn due to his contention regarding suppression.
"This is not a simple withdrawal," Raju said.
The court, however, said that without going into any such contention, the application is dismissed as withdrawn.
Appearing for Sisodia, Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur while resuming arguments on his client's regular bail plea in the money laundering case, said the general rule is that bail has to be granted.
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended Sisodia's judicial custody till June 1 in the case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.
The jail authorities were also directed to consider his request to provide him a chair and table for study purposes.
On May 12, the court extended Sisodia's judicial custody till June 2, in the case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The ED had arrested Sisodia on March 9, after the CBI arrested him on February 26 this year.
Last month, Special Judge M.K. Nagpal had denied bail to the AAP leader holding that the evidence, prima facie, "speaks volumes" of his involvement in the commission of the offence.
Officials of the central jail have not confirmed his release prematurely. Sidhu on May 20, 2022, surrendered before a court in Patiala in a 1988 road rage case that had led to the death of a 65-year-old man.
Out of total 36 people who died in the heart wrenching incident, the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy, Hitansh, while the eldest one was an 80-year-old woman identified as Jayvanti Devi, according to police. Most of the victims were women.
The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod for hiking the compensation due to unseasonal rains by 25 per cent per acre. A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held here.
The court had, on March 20, sent him to judicial custody till April 3. Judge Nagpal observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting after the Covid cases spiked on Wednesday. A total of 300 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours were recorded in the national capital, which is a rise over Tuesday's 214 cases, as per the Delhi government health bulletin.
Asserting that the situation was likely to worsen in the coming days, Badal said the summer season had not started but the state power utility had started imposing power cuts of as much as eight hours per day even in cities.
