Delhi excise policy: Former deputy CM Manish Sisodia arrested by ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, officials said. The arrest comes a day before Sisodia's bail hearing by a CBI court in the same case. 

Sisodia is currently lodged in judicial custody after the CBI arrested him 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. The federal probe agency had recorded the statement of the 51-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader for the first time on March 7 for about five hours.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers, who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was later scrapped and the Delhi LG recommended a CBI probe following which the ED booked a case against the same accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).