Delhi liquor scam: ED attaches assets worth over Rs 52 cr of Manish Sisodia, wife and others 

The Enforcement Directorate on attached assets worth more than Rs 52 crore of arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia, his wife and some other accused in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. According to an ED statement, the attached assets worth Rs. 52.24 Crore include immovable properties worth Rs. 7.29 Crore (02 immovable properties of Manish Sisodia/ Seema Sisodia, land/flat of Rajesh Joshi/Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd. and land/flat of Gautam Malhotra). “The attachment also includes movable assets worth Rs. 44.29 Crore including bank balances of Manish Sisodia (Rs. 11.49 lakhs), Brindco Sales Pvt. Ltd. (Rs. 16.45 Crore) and others. It is the 2nd Provisional Attachment Order issued in this case. The 1st provisional attachment Order issued was issued for attachment of immovable/movable properties worth Rs. 76.54 Crore of Vijay Nair, Sameer Mahandru, Amit Arora, Arun Pillai and others”, the statement read. As per the statement, the total attachment in the case is now Rs 128.78 Crore and the proceeds of crime involved in this case is at least Rs. 1934 Crore. In this case, ED had arrested 12 persons arrested so far and has filed 05 prosecution complaints. Further investigation is in process. The ED on March 9 arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI earlier in its ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused the BJP-led Centre of defaming AAP leader Manish Sisodia by running “fake news” of the Enforcement Directorate attaching assets worth Rs 52 crore belonging to the jailed leader in the Delhi excise policy case. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said in Hindi, “Prime Minister, when you did not find anything against Manish Sisodia, you started defaming him through ED. Your ED is running fake news on TV channels saying that Rs 52 crore worth assets of Manish Sisodia have been attached.” Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, clarified that in reality, Rs 80 lakh worth of assets have been attached. These properties belong to pre-2018 period when the excise policy was not even framed. He also said that these assets have already been declared. “People would not have thought that a day would come that the prime minister of a great country like India would try to eliminate his political rivals by lying openly. Who is the actual corrupt, you also know. If you have guts, you should catch them,” he said.Rs 80 lakh of Sisodia and his wife. It is alleged by the ED and the CBI 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. With inputs from agencies.