By India Blooms News Service Mar 01, 2023
New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court Tuesday told Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to go to the high court if he wants to challenge his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the liquor policy case.
Sisodias lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said his arrest was illegal as Sisodias name was not in the CBI chargesheet and no unaccounted cash was found in searches.
Singhvi also said that the CBIs allegation stating Sisodia was not cooperating in the investigation was a weak excuse.
Responding to this, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, Go to the high court. Our doors are open, but we are not ready to hear it at this stage.
This will be a very bad precedent. You cant do this just because youre in Delhi, Justice PS Narasimha said, referring to Sisodias request to rule his arrest by the CBI as illegal.
Earlier in the day when the matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court, Singhvi cited the courts judgment in the Vinod Dua case as the reason why Sisodia should be given relief, after which the court posted the matter to 3.45 pm.
Later this evening, when the Supreme Court took up Sisodias request again, it said the Vinod Dua case has no relevance whatsoever to his case as the journalists matter was about freedom of speech and expression while his case is about alleged corruption.
After the hearing, Sisodias lawyer said they have withdrawn their request to the Supreme Court and will go to the trial court.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a statement, however, said they will challenge Sisodias arrest in the Delhi High Court.
A Delhi court Monday gave the CBI custody of five days for Sisodia.
The central agency told the city court it needs time to question him over alleged corruption in making the new liquor policy, which was scrapped after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena flagged it.
Earlier in the evening, Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia resigned as Cabinet ministers.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accepted their resignations, media reports said.
If convicted and sentenced to jail for two or more years, Sisodia and Jain may lose their seats and be barred from contesting polls for six years.