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that the condition of the petitioner's wife has improved and is stable, the interim applications are dismissed as withdrawn."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He added that the applications were being withdrawn due to his contention regarding suppression.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The court, however, said that without going into any such contention, the application is dismissed as withdrawn.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.
In an appeal, the Chief Minister said the firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotakpura in 2015 along with the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari had bruised the psyche of every human being especially the Sikh community.
With these arrests, the police have also solved 30 cases of snatching and theft and recovered 23 snatched mobile phones, several Aadhaar cards, pan cards, debit cards, four two-wheelers and metro cards from the possession of the gang members.
The decision of organising the mahapanchayat was taken in a meeting of the SKM, held in Haryana's Kurukshetra on Thursday, where office-bearers of the farmers' organisations from many states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab participated.
The development came a day after the police arrested a juvenile and recovered 15 packets of heroin, weighing 15 kg, and Rs 8.40 lakh drug money from his possession in Amritsar.
The arrested accused has been identified as Vijay Kumar, a.k.a. Toti, while his three aides have been identified as Amardeep Singh, Sooraj Singh and Rahul Lahoch, all residents of Jalandhar. The main accused, Vijay, has been facing 18 criminal cases pertaining to drugs, illegal weapons, kidnapping and extortion.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested three persons, who were trying to smuggle 17.74 kg gold worth Rs 10.1 crore on a fishing boat, and threw it overboard when intercepted, an official said on Thursday.
