AAP Questions ED As Sisodia's Custody Extended; 'Only 15 Hour Interrogation In 7 Days?'

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) posed questions to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's custody has been extended today by five days. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy scam and is currently lodged in Tihar jail. With an extension of his custody till March 25, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, during a press conference on Friday, reiterated that the charges on Sisodia and another former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain are false.

Senior AAP Leader & Rajya Sabha MP @raghav_chadha Addressing an Important Press Conference | LIVE https://t.co/ejkgGgyYaG

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 17, 2023

"The BJP's aim is to finish AAP. In this exercise, BJP is putting AAP leaders in jail by making false cases," Chadha said ahead of the custody extension. "The CBI and ED do not have an iota of evidence against Manish Sisodia Ji other than fascinating stories. They have neither any evidence, nor any recovery, nor any witnesses," he added. 

Hitting out at the ED's plan to make Sisodia face the witnesses, Chadha said that the agency only brought three witnesses in the last seven days and conducted 15 hours of questioning. "They have just one goal -- keep Manish Sisodia in jail. They have nothing on him, they are just leveling false political allegations."

ED's suspected plan of action

The ED is most likely to conduct a joint interrogation of several big names including Arun Ramachandran Pillai and K Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC. Notably, the latter is the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and she was summoned by the ED on March 16 to appear before the central agency on March 20.

The ED is likely to investigate whether there was a connection between the BRS leader and Sisodia and whether they held any meetings together regarding the now-scrapped liquor policy. The investigations so far suggest that the two did meet in the past, something which has been denied by both politicians. 

Moreover, the ED is also probing that how the AAP spent the Rs 70 crore, which it allegedly received as kickbacks from liquor traders. They are also investigating who arranged for the hawala transactions because it is believed that Rs 30 crore was used by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party for a survey in Goa during the state elections. The ED says that the investigation is currently at a very critical point which explains why the agency is pursuing the interrogation of K Kavitha, who has only been questioned once.