New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail plea of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) whether the trial in the Delhi excise policy scam case would end soon.
With 493 witnesses to be examined in the CBI case and the trial yet to begin, the bench of justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said, “Realistically, tell us with 493 witnesses, even if you drop 50% of the witnesses, do you see any end of the tunnel?”
To be sure, CBI has filed eight charge sheets against 57 accused and the trial court has so far taken cognisance of only four charge sheets. In the ED case, too, 224 witnesses have been listed with 40 persons named as accused so far.
Sisodia, who has been incarcerated in this case for more than 16 months, alleged delay in trial to seek bail and claimed there was no allegation that he tampered with any evidence. The top court had on October 30 refused to grant him bail, but kept a window open to revive his appeal if the trial does not begin in the next 6-8 months.
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