ED arrests Sisodia after questioning him at Tihar Jail in slush money case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Thursday after a second round of questioning at Tihar Jail in connection with its money laundering investigation that was launched as a follow-up to the CBI case into the alleged irregularities in the formulation of the Delhi liquor excise policy.

The ED arrest comes just a day before Sisodia’s bail hearing in a CBI court.

ED sources said Sisodia was arrested as they found evidence of money laundering against him. They also said he was “evasive in his replies and was not cooperating in the investigation.”

The ED obtained a local court’s permission to question Sisodia  about the alleged change and destruction of mobile phones that were in his possession and his decisions as the excise minister of Delhi. These charges were made by it in its charge sheets filed before the court.

The Central financial crime investigative agency had recorded Sisodia’s for the first time on March 7.

Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, who held as many as 18 departments under his charge in the Kejriwal-led government, had resigned after the CBI arrested him on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation of the liquor excise policy for 2021-22. The policy had thrown open the retail sale of liquor  in Delhi to the private sector for the first time ever, allegedly afte taking bribes.