Delhi Excise Policy: SC Dismisses Manish Sisodia’s Curative Plea

The Supreme Court has dismissed the curative petitions of AAP Leader Manish Sisodia against the top court’s October 30 verdict rejecting his bail petitions in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud which considered the curative pleas in-chamber, also rejecting his application for listing the petitions in the open court. A curative petition is the final legal recourse in the apex court and is typically considered in-chamber unless a prima facie case is made out for reconsideration of the verdict.

“Application for listing the curative petitions in open court is dismissed. We have gone through the curative petitions and the connected documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra. The curative petitions are dismissed,” the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and SVN Bhatti, said.

On December 13 last year, the top court had dismissed Sisodia’s pleas seeking a review of its October 30, 2023 verdict dismissing his bail petitions. On October 30 last year, the apex court had denied him bail in the corruption and money-laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, stating that the allegations by the probe agencies that “windfall gains” of Rs 338 crore were made by a few wholesale distributors were “tentatively supported” by evidence.

The top court, which termed several charges leveled by the Enforcement Directorate against Sisodia as debatable, had said about the alleged windfall gains that “However, there is one clear ground or charge in the complaint filed under the PML Act, which is free from perceptible legal challenge and the facts as alleged are tentatively supported by material and evidence.”

It had referred to the CBI’s charge sheet, which said the excess amount of seven per cent commission/fee earned by the wholesale distributors totaling Rs 338 crore constituted an offense as defined under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to bribery by a public servant. It had said as per the ED’s complaint, the amount of Rs 338 crore is the proceeds of crime.

“This amount was earned by the wholesale distributors in a span of ten months. This figure cannot be disputed or challenged. Thus, the new excise policy was meant to give windfall gains to select few wholesale distributors, who in turn had agreed to give kickbacks and bribes,” the top court had noted from the CBI’s charge sheet, adding, the “conspiracy and involvement of the appellant Manish Sisodia is well established”. Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023, for his alleged role in the “scam”.

The ED arrested Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 last year after questioning him in Tihar Jail. The Delhi government had implemented the new excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. However, the Delhi government and Sisodia have denied any wrongdoing and said the new policy would have led to an increase in the city government’s revenue.