The ED arrested Manish Sisodia yesterday, a day before his CBI case bail hearing
New Delhi:
Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia’s lawyer has slammed the Enforcement Directorate for considering arrest as a right without going through the due process of law. The central agency today sought 10-day custody of the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister from a special court as it sought to question him over alleged money laundering in framing a new liquor policy for Delhi, which was later scrapped.
The Enforcement Directorate, or ED, arrested Mr Sisodia yesterday, a day before his bail request in his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, was to be heard in the special court.
“It has become a fashion these days that the agencies take arrests as a right. It’s time for the courts to come down heavily on this sense of entitlement,” Mr Sisodia’s lawyer Dayan Krishna said in the special court today.
“The CBI is investigating a predicate offence. What the ED stated today is in fact the CBI’s case…Without the proceeds of the alleged crime, the ED can’t start investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” Mr Krishna said.
The AAP leader’s lawyer pointed out that the Delhi liquor policy file also went to the Lieutenant Governor, who, too, had cleared it. “We hope the ED questions the Lieutenant Governor,” he said.
