Manish Sisodia, former Deputy Chief Minister and ex-Finance Minister of Delhi, has been remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) until March 17 in connection with a money laundering case related to the excise policy for the year 2021-22.
The ED alleges that there was a conspiracy to frame the policy in a way that would provide illegal benefits to certain individuals. Sisodia had previously been sent to judicial custody in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case and had been remanded to CBI custody.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the excise policy, which was framed and implemented when Sisodia was the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. The CBI had alleged that certain private companies were given a profit margin of 12% in the policy, which was not suggested by the public.
During the hearing for Sisodia’s ED remand, the court adjourned the hearing for his bail application until March 21 due to lack of time. On February 27, the trial court had also rejected his bail plea on March 1.
Sisodia had moved a Delhi court seeking bail in the case lodged by the CBI. He had argued that he had no role in the formulation of the policy as it was done by the Group of Ministers (GoM) and that not a single penny had been traced to him, which is an essential ingredient for the offense of money laundering.
The ED, which is investigating the money laundering angle in the case, had also registered a case against Sisodia and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in August 2022.
Sisodia has been in judicial custody since March 2, after the CBI court rejected his bail plea in the case. With the ED custody, the probe agency will be able to interrogate him further in connection with the money laundering angle.
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