Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 17: A Delhi court on Friday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of top Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia till March 22 in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor scam.
On March 22, at 2:00 p.m., Special Judge MK Nagpal ordered Sisodia to appear in court.
Excise policy case | Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court extends Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia ED remand by five more days in a money laundering case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD. pic.twitter.com/oIKH9FqN8m
— ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2023
After interviewing Sisodia in the Tihar Prison for a number of hours on March 9, the ED took him into custody. Sisodia was previously detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 in connection with the liquor policy issue, and is still being held in judicial custody in that matter. He was kept by the CBI till March 6. He was then taken into legal custody after that.
On March 10, he was subsequently remanded into the custody of ED.
Sisodia and other AAP members are accused of conspiring to give liquor licences to certain retailers in exchange for kickbacks.
According to the central authorities, changes were made to the excise policy and profit margins that favoured specific dealers, and in exchange, bribes were given.
Following Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena’s recommendation for a CBI investigation based on a report from the Delhi Chief Secretary, the ED and the CBI lodged cases in connection with the alleged fraud.