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ED attaches Manish Sisodia’s ₹81 lakh assets in Delhi excise policy case
The provisional attachment order against Manish Sisodia was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Monday
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached two flats worth ₹70 lakh belonging to former deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, and his wife, Seema Sisodia, apart from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s bank deposits worth ₹11.49 lakh in connection with its money laundering probe in the Delhi excise policy scam.
The provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was issued on Monday for a flat worth ₹5 lakh in Ghaziabad in the name of jailed Aam Aadmi Party leader, and a flat worth ₹65 lakh owned by his wife in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar.
To be sure, Seema Sisodia is not an accused in the Delhi excise policy case.
Besides Sisodia, properties of other accused persons – Rajesh Joshi, director of Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd, Gautam Malhotra, Punjab-based businessman and son of former Shiromani Akal Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, bank balances of Amandeep Singh Dhall, Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd -- were also attached under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Overall, assets and bank balances totalling ₹52.24 crore belonging to all the accused persons were attached, ED said.
“ED has provisionally attached assets worth ₹52.24 crore belonging to Manish Sisodia, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Rajesh Joshi, Gautam Malhotra and others in the case of Delhi liquor scam. The attached assets include immovable properties worth ₹7.29 Crore (including two immovable properties of Manish Sisodia and Seema Sisodia), land/flat of Rajesh Joshi, and land/flat of Gautam Malhotra. The attachment also includes movable assets worth ₹44.29 crore including bank balances of Manish Sisodia ( ₹11.49 lakh), Brindco Sales Pvt. Ltd. ( ₹16.45 Crore) and others,” the agency said in a statement.
AAP lashed out at the ED statement, saying clubbing all the attachments together was an attempt to malign Sisodia by inflating the headline number.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal attacked ED, saying it was “mischievously” trying to defame Sisodia. “ED has been running reports on news channels that Sisodia’s assets worth ₹52 crore have been seized. In fact, the properties seized, all from before 2018, are valued at ₹80 lakh. All assets are accounted for and are legitimate. It is unprecedented that a Prime Minister is targeting his political opponents by propagating lies. You should go after the real culprits,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
Delhi minister Atishi also slammed the central agency over allegations against Sisodia. “BJP has come up with a new bundle of lies to defame Manish Sisodia. According to ED’s own documents, Manish Sisodia has assets worth only ₹81 lakh, including ₹11 lakh in a bank account, one flat worth ₹5 lakh, and another valued at ₹65 lakh,” Atishi said.
In its charge sheet filed against Sisodia on May 4, ED alleged that the former deputy CM received kickbacks worth ₹2.2 crore through his close aide Dinesh Arora from businessman Amit Arora -- a charge that the former deputy CM has denied.
On February 26, CBI arrested Sisodia after the agency said that it had recovered incriminating evidence in the case. After spending 7 days in CBI custody, Sisodia was sent to Tihar Jail by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, from where he was arrested by ED after a nine-hour-long interrogation on March 9. Sisodia and the AAP have dismissed the probe as a politically motivated witch-hunt.
