The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to businessman Amandeep Dhall in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case related to the alleged irregularities in the framing of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 [Amandeep Singh Dhall v Central Bureau of Investigation].
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that it has not commented on the merits of the case, and that bail is contingent on terms set by the trial court and Dhall's cooperation during trial.
The Court granted bail after Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave appeared for Dhall and submitted that he had been in jail for 557 days.
Dhall had already got bail from the Delhi High Court in the money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) related to the Delhi Excise Policy, by an order passed on September 17.
With today's order, all the accused in the Delhi Excise Policy case have now been given bail.
The CBI had arrested Dhall on April 18, 2023. He was the Managing Director of Brindco Sales Private Limited, a wholesale L-1 licensee.
As per the allegations, Dhall was involved in the formulation of Delhi liquor policy from the very beginning and was in close contact with co-accused Vijay Nair.
He was allegedly arranging meetings between Nair and various officials and representatives of different liquor manufacturers at the stage of the formulation of the excise policy.
The trial court dismissed Dhall's bail plea in the CBI case on June 9, 2023.
The Delhi High Court then denied bail to him on June 4 this year prompting the appeal before the apex court.
The High Court had earlier noted that there were serious allegations against him, including that Dhall and his father had paid a bribe of ₹5 crore to an official of the ED to keep their names off the case.
The Supreme Court had recently granted bail to Aam Aadmi party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in connection with the same case.
While allowing Sisodia's plea, the top court had also taken critical note that the High Courts and trial courts appeared to be "playing it safe" when they routinely denied bail in criminal cases instead of granting bail as the norm.
The CBI was represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Raja Thakre before the Supreme Court.
Dhall was represented by Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave along with advocate Adit Pujari.