Delhi Excise Policy Case: Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia was detained by another government agency a day before his bail hearing in the Delhi liquor policy case before a special court today. Sisodia was arrested on February 26 by the CBI in connection with suspected corruption in the creation and implementation of the now-canceled Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22. He is being held in judicial custody until March 20th. 


However, the court is going to hear Sisodia's bail application today.


Key Points:



  1. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister after questioning him for two days about alleged money laundering while developing the new liquor policy, which was scrapped after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into it.

  2. The ED arrest complicates matters for Sisodia, who is seeking bail from the CBI court. The ED will present him in court today, the same day his bail hearing is scheduled.

  3. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the ED operation is intended at keeping his party member Sisodia "inside at whatever cost". Manish was first arrested by the CBI. The CBI did not find any evidence, no money was found in the raid. There is a bail hearing tomorrow. Manish would have been released tomorrow. So today ED arrested him. They have only one aim - to keep Manish inside at all cost by creating new fake cases every day. The people are watching. The people will answer," Kejriwal tweeted.

  4. Sisodia issued an open letter about the "politics of education" vs. "politics of jail" while imprisoned. Before his incarceration, Sisodia controlled various responsibilities, including education and excise.

  5. "It is much easier to throw political opponents in jail than giving quality education to children. BJP's real problem with politics of education is that it builds nations, not leaders. Politics of education is not an easy task and definitely not a recipe for political success. Today, politics of jail might be winning under the rule of the BJP, but the future belongs to politics of education," he wrote.

  6. K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, a significant opposition leader in the central, is another key player facing corruption allegations related to the Delhi liquor policy issue. On March 11, she will be questioned by the ED.

  7. During Sisodia's custody, the CBI questioned him with his former secretary C. Arvind and then Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna in connection with suspected excise policy manipulation.

  8. Sisodia was not included as an accused in the charge sheet issued by the CBI in the case on November 25, 2022.

  9. The Delhi Government's excise policy for 2021-22, which grants licences to liquor merchants, is said to have facilitated cartelisation and favoured particular dealers who reportedly paid bribes for it, a claim strenuously denied by the AAP.