Delhi liquor policy case: Manish Sisodia questioned by ED in Tihar Jail

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday questioned and recorded the statement of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as part of its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the excise policy matter, official sources said.

The federal probe agency also made a fresh arrest in this case as it took into custody Hyderabad-based liquor businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai on Monday evening, they said.

The ED investigators reached the Tihar Jail to record the statement of Sisodia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The CBI had arrested Sisodia on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22. He is lodged in judicial custody till March 20.

The ED obtained the court's permission to question the 51-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who till recently was the deputy CM of Delhi, in cell number 1 of the jail for three days.

The agency is expected to question him about the alleged change and destruction of cell phones that were in his possession and the policy decisions and the timeline followed by him as the excise minister of Delhi. These charges were made by it in its supplementary complaints filed before the court.

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