NEW DELHI: The sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) visited multiple locations in Delhi NCR in connection with the money laundering probe in the Delhi excise policy case, including the premises of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s personal assistant Devendra Sharma, but no arrests were made in the matter, ED sources said.
Sisodia took to Twitter in the afternoon and said, “They registered a false FIR, got my house raided, searched bank lockers, checked in my village but found nothing against me. Today, they did not find anything at my PA's house, so now they have arrested him and taken him away.”
Linking the alleged action to the upcoming state elections, Sisodia in his tweet further said, “BJP folks! So much fear of losing the election..”
ED sources said that officials took “procedural actions” in connection with the ongoing investigation in the case in which officials visited at least five locations in the NCR and occupants of the premises were questioned. No arrests were made however, sources in the ED confirmed.
The ED so far has conducted more than 130 raids in the case till now Since September 6 in different States and Union Territory, including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It has arrested Sameer Mahandru, a liquor businessman and managing director of liquor manufacturing company Indospirit, in September.
The money laundering case being investigated by ED is a fallout of a CBI FIR that had named Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as accused number one in the Delhi Excise case. The CBI is also conducting a parallel investigation into the matter under the Prevention of Corruption Act in which Sisodia was questioned by the agency last month for over 9 hours.
CBI is probing the irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, which Sisodia had approved. The irregularities in the policy caused huge losses to the state exchequer while benefiting private parties including liquor traders and middlemen.
The CBI registered case on the complaint by the Delhi LG who said that several procedures were tweaked in order to benefit private liquor barons and individuals and that an investigation must be carried out to find kickbacks, according to people in Saxena’s office, who pointed fingers at the “highest echelons of the government leading up to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia”.