The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday detained the senior AAP leader, Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi on money laundering allegations in connection with suspected anomalies in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
After being sentenced to 14 days of judicial imprisonment in a related case brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with alleged corruption in the creation and implementation of the excise policy for 2021–22, Sisodia is currently being held in Tihar jail. The CBI detained him on February 26.
The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader was detained by the ED a day before the CBI court was scheduled to hear his bail request on Friday. Sisodia was placed in judicial custody by Special Judge M K Nagpal, who also ordered the CBI to respond to the AAP leader's bail appeal by March 10.
Sisodia was reportedly arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after his second round of interrogation at the Tihar jail, according to official sources. Sisodia was arrested on suspicion of "not participating" in the investigation and giving "evasive" answers, according to the ED.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, claimed that his former deputy was being held in custody on bogus accusations and that the ED had arrested him because he would have been released on bail.
Meanwhile, after obtaining the court's approval to examine Sisodia while he was under judicial detention, the ED's three-person team began questioning him on March 7. On Friday, the ED is anticipated to bring him before a special PMLA court to request his custody for questioning after obtaining a production warrant from that court.
The ED has the right to ask for Sisodia's custody even if he receives bail in the CBI case on Friday. If the ED gains custody of him, he would be brought to the headquarters of the organisation in the heart of Delhi for questioning, additional recording of his statement, and confrontation with other accused parties in the excise policy case.