New Delhi: Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand was extended by five more days in the money laundering case related to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. The court however allowed Sisodia to sign cheques for his family's expenses amounting to Rs 40,000 and his wife's medical expenses of Rs 45,000. Sisodia was produced at the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Friday as his earlier remand period ended.
The probe agency said that Sisodia had to be confronted with other accused persons including former excise commissioner Rahul Singh, Dinesh Arora, Amit Arora as well as his former secretary C Arvind, who, however, is not an accused in the case. The ED also informed the court that data from Sisodia's email his mobile phone and other devices are also being forensically analysed.
Sisodia's lawyer, opposing the remand plea, said there the ED has not spoken yet about the proceeds of the crime. Sisodia was confronted only with four people during his earlier seven-day custody, he informed the court.
The ED has submitted fresh findings to the court on the matter and sought further remand for a period of seven days. The probe agency said that crucial information was revealed during his custody. The ED had earlier arrested Sisodia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The AAP minister was already in judicial custody in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 in the same case.
The ED had earlier produced Sisodia in the Rouse Avenue Court last week to seek his custody. This interrupted Sisodia's hopes for bail, which was scheduled in court on the same day. The bail plea case hearing had to be postponed to a later date as a result.
While the ED has submitted a charge sheet of 13,000 pages and made 11 arrests in the case, the CBI has made four arrests so far. While three from the CBIs custody have managed to get bail, none that have been arrested by the ED managed to do so. The ED has earlier arrested another AAP minister, Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case.
Incidentally, on Thursday, the CBI arrested Sisodia again in a fresh case, this time for "political snooping." The CBI had alleged that Sisodia misused his official position by using the Delhi government's Feedback Unit (FBU) to suit his party's needs.
The CBI has also booked IRS officer Sukesh Kumar Jain who served as secretary of vigilance and retired CISF DIG Rakesh Kumar Sinha who worked as special advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and joint director in FBU, in the case. Sisodia's fresh arrest has added fuel to the fire between the BJP and the AAP with the saffron brigade.
After the arrest, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has planned to slap several false cases against Sisodia just to keep him in custody for a long period. Reacting to the arrest, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said the CBI should probe the case from the angle of sedition. He further said that it should be investigated whether any foreign power was involved in the snooping.
