Delhi excise policy: ED questions Manish Sisodia second time in Tihar

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday began the second round of questioning of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia at the Tihar Jail here in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, officials said.

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.

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 ED obtained a local court's permission to question the politician, who till recently was the deputy CM of Delhi, in the cell number 1 of the jail.

The agency is expected to question him about the alleged change and destruction of cellphones 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 charge sheets filed before the court.

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).