A city court sent former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to a 7-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Sisodia was arrested by the agency a day ago on charges of money laundering linked to the policy.
The agency had sought for a 10-day custody to question the former deputy chief minister. The ED told the judge in court today that there was a conspiracy behind framing the excise policy and Sisodia was part of the "money laundering nexus".
"There are statements, other evidence against AAP leader Manish Sisodia." The conspiracy was coordinated by the Aam Aadmi Party’s communications in-charge Vijay Nair, along with others and the policy was brought out for extraordinary profit margin of liquor wholesalers, the agency told the court.
ED's counsel also claimed that Sisodia destroyed his phone, an important piece of evidence in the investigation. It was also alleged that Sisodia made false statements about the 'scam' and that the agency wanted to unearth the modus operandi of the perpetrators and confront him with the other accused.
The claims of the ED counsel were contested by a battery of lawyers who represented Sisodia. Senior advocates Dayan Krishnan, Mohit Mathur and Siddharth Aggarwal said the excise policy was accepted by the Lieutenant Governor who must have examined it.
Sisodia's lawyers while opposing the ED's plea for his custody, said it is the executive's job to make policy which goes through several layers of scrutiny. "How can ED look into policy making in money-laundering case," the AAP leader's counsel asked the court. "ED has not found a single penny from my client...the case is entirely based on hearsay," the lawyer said.
There was heavy security presence in and outside the Rouse Avenue Court premises in the capital city.
Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a protest outside the court premises and raised slogans in Sisodia's support, while those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest seeking Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation over the case.
The ED arrested Sisodia last evening in the Tihar jail, where he was already lodged in connection with the excise policy case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI had arrested the former Delhi education minister on February 26 for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22.
(With inputs from PTI)
