Trial court finding on Sisodia not backed by record: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday said the trial court's finding that Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia was responsible for delaying the trial in the Delhi excise policy cases was not supported by the record.

While granting bail to Sisodia in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, the apex court noted there were around 69,000 pages of documents related to the two matters.

"Taking into consideration the huge magnitude of the documents involved, it cannot be stated that the accused is not entitled to take a reasonable time for inspection of the said documents," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said.

"In order to avail the right to fair trial, the accused cannot be denied the right to have inspection of the documents including the 'un-relied upon documents'," it said.

The bench noted that the commencement of trial in both the cases lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is yet to see the 'light of the day'.

It noted that the trial court had said that Sisodia, individually and along with different accused, has been filing application after application or making oral submissions frequently of which some were frivolous.

The bench said the trial court had observed that this was apparently done as a concerted effort for accomplishing the shared purpose of causing delay in the matter.

'It could further be seen that, though it has been submitted on behalf of the ED that hundreds of applications have been filed for supply of 'un-relied upon documents', the record would not substantiate the said position,' it said.

The apex court said though various applications have been filed by different accused, Sisodia had filed only 13 applications in the CBI matter and 14 in the ED case.

'It would reveal that some of the applications are for seeking permission to meet his wife... seeking permission to sign a cheque etc. Most of the applications are for supply of missing documents and legible copies under section 207/208 CrPC,' it said.

The bench noted that all these applications were allowed by the trial court.

'We may state that, when we specifically asked the ASG (Additional Solicitor General who appeared for CBI and ED) to point out any order wherein the trial judge found any of the applications of the appellant to be frivolous, not a single order could be pointed out,' the bench noted.

'In that view of the matter, we find that the finding of the trial judge that it is the appellant who is responsible for delaying the trial is not supported by the record,' it said.

The bench referred to the apex court's June 4 order passed on Sisodia's pleas seeking bail.

On June 4, the top court had disposed of Sisodia's plea and said he can revive his bail petitions after the ED and CBI file their final prosecution complaint and charge sheet, respectively.

It had also noted the assurance given by the probe agencies that investigation would be concluded and final complaint or charge sheet would be filed by July 3.

In its Friday's verdict granting him bail, the bench said, 'In that view of the matter, we find that the contention raised by the ASG is self-contradictory. If the investigation itself was to conclude on or before July 3, 2024, the question is how could the trial have commenced prior to that?'

It noted this was the third time that Sisodia was seeking bail before the apex court in these two cases.

The former deputy chief minister of Delhi was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

He was then holding the excise portfolio in the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The ED arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.