New Delhi: Arrested Delhi Ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain resigned Tuesday from the Cabinet, officials said Tuesday. Both have been arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case. Earlier in the day the Supreme Court refused to entertain the bail plea of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in CBI custody.
“We are not inclined to entertain the petition under Article 32 at this stage,” a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said. The Supreme Court bench observed that just because the incident has happened in Delhi, Manish Sisodia cannot come to the apex court directly as he has his remedies before the trial court concerned as well as the Delhi High Court.
Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, questioned the need of arresting the AAP leader. He said the policy decisions were taken at different rung and moreover, no money was recovered. He also said that the Lieutenant Governor was also part of the policy decision in the excise policy.
As the apex court observed that it would not entertain the plea at this stage, Singhvi withdrew it.
There are now five ministers in the Delhi Cabinet including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Manish Sisodia was in charge of 18 ministries, including the health portfolio of Satyendar Jain, who has been in jail for over 10 months now.