Manish Sisodia, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi and a prominent leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has filed a plea for bail in the Delhi High Court concerning the Delhi excise policy case.

Sisodia has applied for bail in both the money laundering case initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the case under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Sisodia's bail plea in both cases was dismissed by a Delhi court on April 30, prompting him to file the current plea before the High Court. Although the plea was requested for an urgent hearing today, the Court has scheduled it to be heard on Friday, May 3rd.

Since February 26, 2023, Sisodia has remained in custody as investigations by both the CBI and the ED continue regarding the Delhi excise policy case. This case revolves around accusations of collusion among Delhi government officials to unlawfully grant liquor licenses to specific traders in return for bribes. It's alleged that these officials manipulated the excise policy to favor particular liquor vendors.

This marks the second instance where Sisodia's bail petitions have been denied by the trial court. Initially, his first bail plea in the CBI case was turned down on March 31, 2023, followed by the rejection of his bail application in the ED case on April 28, 2023. Both the Delhi High Court and subsequently the Supreme Court upheld these trial court orders in October 2023. Subsequently, Sisodia pursued a second round of bail pleas before the trial court, which were dismissed earlier this week.