AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi in connection with the Delhi excise policy case on March 6, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on money laundering charges in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, official sources said.
The 51-year-old was placed under arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following his second round of questioning at the Tihar jail, they said.
The agency alleged Mr. Sisodia was “evasive” in his replies and was “not cooperating in the probe.”
The federal probe agency had recorded the statement of the 51-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader for the first time on March 7 for about five hours.
Mr. Sisodia is currently lodged in judicial custody after the CBI arrested him on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22.
Why was Delhi’s former deputy CM Manish Sisodia arrested?
The ED obtained a local court’s permission to question the politician in the cell number 1 of the jail.
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers, who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was later scrapped and the Delhi LG recommended a CBI probe following which the ED booked a case against the same accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
