Enforcement Directorate

Despite being in judicial custody for so many months since his arrest by the CBI in August last year, the Trinamool Congress leadership has not announced his replacement as the party's Birbhum district president. This is in sharp contrast to the case of former state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who was stripped of all his ministerial and party posts just a week after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam.

"Manish was first arrested by the CBI. The CBI did not find any evidence, no money was found in the raids. There is a bail hearing tomorrow. Manish would have been released tomorrow. So today ED arrested him. They have only one intention to keep Manish inside at any cost, creating new fake cases everyday. The public is watching and will answer," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

The ED made the arrest after questioning Sisodia for hours inside the Tihar jail as part of its money laundering probe into the alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 excise policy of Delhi, officials said. Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 in the same case and he is currently in judicial custody till March 20.

According to the probe agency sources, they have permission to quiz Sisodia for three days. Earlier, the ED had interrogated the AAP leader on the alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore which the party/leaders received through hawala channel from the South Group. He was also asked about Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Pillai and K. Kavitha -- daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Kavitha has written the letter in response to the notice issued by the ED asking her to appear before it on March 9. The daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had apparently requested for a week's time to appear but the ED rejected her request, and subsequently she sent another letter. A statement in this regard was issued from Kavitha's office late Wednesday night.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader was spotted at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here amid tight security to catch a flight for the national capital. According to sources, Kavitha has written to the Enforcement Directorate seeking time till March 15 to appear before the agency for questioning in the Delhi liquor policy case. The ED is yet to comment on the matter.

ED sources told IANS that the agency has got permission to quiz Sisodia for three days. Like Tuesday, the ED reached Tihar jail at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and questioned Sisodia about the alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore which the AAP/its leaders received through hawala channel from the South Group.

Several state ministers and BRS leaders slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for the ED notice to Kavitha, a member of Telangana Legislative Council and daughter of Chandrasekhar Rao. They alleged that the notice was issued to Kavitha due to political malice as the BJP is scared of BRS growing strong. Ministers Jagdish Reddy, S. Niranjan Reddy, E. Dayakar Rao, Satyavathi Rathore and P. Ajay Kumar lashed out at Narendra Modi government for what they called its political vendetta.

"Arun along with his associates was coordinating with various persons to execute the political understanding between the South Group and a leader of AAP. Arun Pillai has been accomplice and was involved in the kickbacks from the South Group and the recoupment of the same from the businesses in Delhi," the ED said.

The ED has taken the necessary permissions from the authorities concerned and a team will be in the jail at 11 a.m. There are possibilities that the ED might arrest Sisodia after the questioning. The ED will question him in connection with the alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore which the AAP party/leaders allegedly received through hawala channels from a South Group.