Delhi liquor policy: ED files fresh money laundering charge sheet naming Manish Sisodia

New Delhi, May 4 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday field a fresh charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy linked money laundering case naming AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, sources said.

Sisodia was arrested by the ED in this case on March 9 from Tihar Jail and he is currently in judicial custody.

The 51-year-old Aam Aadmi Party leader was first arrested by the CBI, which is also probing this case.

This is the fifth charge sheet or prosecution complaint filed in the case by the ED before a designated special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi.

The agency has called Sisodia a “key conspirator” in this case.

The federal agency has arrested 12 people including Sisodia in this case till now, in which it has said, the probe is continuing.

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 subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.