After CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested 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, the ED said.
Sisodia is currently lodged in judicial custody after the CBI arrested him on 26 February in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22.
The ED on Thursday alleged Sisodia was “evasive” in his replies and was “not cooperating in the probe.” The first round of Sisodia’s questioning by the ED took place on 7 March. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.
The ED began questioning the senior AAP leader days after it recorded his statement on Tuesday.
The ED also made another arrest in the case earlier, as it took Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai into its custody.
ED, last year, filed its first chargesheet in the case. The agency said it has, so far, undertaken nearly 200 search operations in this case after an FIR was filed, taking cognisance of the CBI case registered on the recommendation of Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials had said.