The AAP on Tuesday claimed the Enforcement Directorate has given a ”clean chit” to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case and argued that the probe agency would have otherwise raided the senior leader’s house.
On Monday, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), too, had given a clean chit to Sisodia. The agency, however, categorically denied it, saying the case remains under investigation and it has not absolved anyone of the charges.
The AAP’s claim comes after the ED conducted searches across Delhi and five states on Tuesday as part of its money laundering investigation into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy.
The ED officials said around 30 premises in Delhi, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are being searched and individuals named in the case are being raided. But these do not include the premises linked to Sisodia or any other government servant.
“It is a matter of happiness for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that the ED also has given a clean chit to Sisodia today after the CBI did so…,” AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said at a press conference.
“The ED carried out raids at various locations but did not come to Manish Sisodia’s residence despite him being the accused number-1. They (ED officials) developed cold feet. They left him because they felt that going to his house would be humiliating,” he added.
