New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday (June 5) denied Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s request for interim bail. He is in custody in the case pertaining to an alleged scam related to the Delhi excise policy.However, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that Sisodia may meet his wife, who has been unwell, for one day between 10 am and 5 pm. “This Court finds itself very hard to persuade to grant bail to Manish Sisodia. However, we direct that he (Manish Sisodia) be taken to the residence or the hospital where Mrs Sisodia is. He be taken to the hospital/residence between 10 am and 5 pm,” the court ordered, according to Bar and Bench.Sisodia should not meet anyone except family members in that time, the judge said.“The Delhi Police is direct to ensure that there is no media gathering where Sisodia goes to meet his wife. He shall not use the mobile phone or internet,” the order said.The AAP leader had sought six weeks’ interim bail because of his wife’s poor health.Sisodia had been arrested on February 26. In April, the CBI named him in a supplementary chargesheet in the case. The AAP leader has denied any wrongdoing, and said in his bail plea that the CBI has no evidence against him. The Enforcement Directorate has also been investigating Sisodia pertaining to the same scam.AAP has alleged that the Union government is targeting the Delhi government and Sisodia because of their successes, including the school education programme.The Delhi excise policy was enforced by the AAP government in November 2021. It was scrapped at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.The CBI had questioned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for about eight hours in April pertaining to this case. The agency has also questioned BRS leader Kavitha. Kavitha has also moved the Supreme Court against the summons issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate.AAP has consistently held that the Union government is using the investigative agency to attack the Delhi government and try and impede its functioning, and that there is no truth to the allegations. “They are doing all this to defame us and our good, development work,” Kejriwal had said after he was questioned.Leaders of eight opposition parties had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sisodia’s arrest, saying, “The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy.”