Sisodia: Day before bail hearing, ED arrests Manish Sisodia after quizzing him in Tihar | India News

NEW DELHI: After two rounds of questioning Manish Sisodia, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested the former deputy chief minister of Delhi from inside Tihar Jail in connection with its Delhi excise policy probe.
The ED’s action came a day before a court here is scheduled to hear Sisodia’s bail plea in the case registered by the CBI against him and for which he had been remanded in judicial custody. The agency is set to seek custody of the AAP politician for further questioning when it produces him in court on Friday. Sisodia is “Accused No. 1” in the case, according to the CBI FIR which has been the basis for the ED to register an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The former deputy CM was arrested by the CBI on February 26.

ED arrested Sisodia after CBI found no evidence: Kejriwal
Reacting to Sisodia’s arrest, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “Manish was first arrested by the CBI. It did not find any evidence against him and no money was found in the raids. The hearing on his bail application is scheduled tomorrow [Friday] and he would have been released. So, today the ED arrested him. They have only one aim – to keep Manish inside at all costs by creating new fake cases every day. The public is watching, and it will give a reply.”

Before the ED began questioning Sisodiathe former deputy CM was questioned by the CBI, both before and after they arrested him. The CBI claimed before the court that during the interrogation, Sisodia had been evasive and uncooperative. His secretary, other associates and party functionaries have already recorded their statements with both the CBI and the ED.
Sources said the ED seeks to question Sisodia in custody as he remains evasive in his answers despite being confronted with the statements of other accused in the case that could be crucial in determining the trail of “proceeds of crime”. The ED has already submitted before court in its remand notes and two chargesheets filed earlier that Rs 100 crore payoffs were allegedly given to AAP functionaries by the liquor cartel in Delhi to control the retail and wholesale distribution in the national capital.

Sisodia was also the excise minister in the AAP government and his then secretary C Arvind, a Danics officer, had recorded statements with the ED allegedly claiming irregularities in finalisation of the excise policy 2021-22. Arvind’s statement, ED claims, proves that the GoM was allegedly bypassed to finalise the excise policy that left enough loopholes in favour of a cartel that was being promoted to benefit from it.

Delhi liquor policy case: ED arrests Manish Sisodia on money laundering charges