New Delhi
In more trouble for jailed Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned him in Tihar Jail in connection with the probe of money laundering in the now-scrapped Delhi’s new excise policy 2021-22 case.
A team of ED officials on Friday afternoon reached the Tihar Jail premises to question Jain, who was arrested by the financial probe agency on May 31 this year in connection with the hawala transactions case.
The official said that his statement was recorded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The ED move comes after a Delhi court on Thursday permitted the agency to question Jain in connection with the new excise policy case.
The court authorised the ED to carry out questioning on September 16, 22 and 23.
Earlier in the day, the ED carried out searches at more than 40 locations in connection with the case in Bengaluru, Nellore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Ten days back, the ED had carried out searches at more than 30 locations in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and others on September 6.
The ED initiated the probe on the basis of the CBI FIR registered on August 17, in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been named as accused number 1.
Besides Sisodia, the CBI named Sameer Mahendru; his company Indospirits; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Lucknow-based Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, Director of Delhi-based Brindco Sales Pvt. Ltd.; Amit Arora, Director of Buddy Retail Private Limited; Dinesh Arora, Delhi-based Mahadev Liquors; Sunny Marwah, authorised signatory of Mahadev Liquors; Arun Ramchandra Pillai of Karnataka’s Bangalore and Arjun Pandey of Gurgaon.
The CBI has also named three public servants, including Arva Gopi Krishna, the then Excise Commissioner and IAS officer; Anand Tiwari, the then Deputy Excise Commissioner and Pankaj Bhatnagar, Assistant Commissioner (Excise).
The CBI had earlier carried out searches at 31 locations on August 19, including the premises of Sisodia in Delhi.
The CBI FIR is based on the complaint received from Lt Governor of Delhi VK Saxena, alleging irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the year 2021-22.