In more trouble for jailed AAP leader Manish Sisodia, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested him in a money laundering case related to alleged corruption in the Delhi liquor policy. A local court is scheduled to hear his bail application in a case being probed by the CBI on Friday.
He was put under arrest after eight hours of questioning. He has been charged under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, ED sources related to the probe said.
Sisodia was questioned at Tihar jail where he is currently lodged in 14-day judicial custody. He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – which is probing his role in the alleged corruption in the formation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 – on February 26.
The ED questioned Sisodia for the first time on Tuesday inside the Tihar Jail premises after taking permission from a city court.
This is the 12th arrest by the financial probe agency in this case. Earlier this week, the ED arrested Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramachandra Pillai.
It has also summoned Telangana chief minister and Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha for questioning on March 11.
The ED case is based on the CBI FIR which it filed on August 17 last year on the allegations of irregularities, on the basis of the complaint from Delhi LG VK Saxena.
A special CBI court is scheduled to hear Sisodia’s bail application on Friday.
Sisodia and Kavitha have been named in the ED’s charge sheet, which alleged that both leaders changed their phones multiple times in the last two years.
In its charge sheet, the directorate claimed that the policy was manipulated to increase the profit margin for wholesalers so as to extract half of it as kickbacks.
Meanwhile, AAP supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the ED arrested Manish Sisodia because there was a high chance that he would be granted bail on Friday.
मनीष को पहले CBI ने गिरफ़्तार किया। CBI को कोई सबूत नहीं मिला, रेड में कोई पैसा नहीं मिला। कल बेल पर सुनवाई है। कल मनीष छूट जाते। तो आज ED ने गिरफ़्तार कर लिया। इनका एक ही मक़सद है – मनीष को हर हालत में अंदर रखना। रोज़ नये फ़र्ज़ी मामले बनाकर। जनता देख रही है। जनता जवाब देगी
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 9, 2023
“Manish was first arrested by the CBI, which didn’t find any evidence against him. It did not find any money in its raids either. His bail application is to be heard tomorrow and he would have been released. This is why the ED arrested him today,” Kejriwal said.
“They (BJP) anyhow want to keep Manish behind bars by framing him in fake cases. The public is watching everything and it will respond on time,” he added.