'Sisodia's excise policy part of a conspiracy to ...': ED tells court, gets custody till March 17

A Delhi court sent former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to a seven-day custody over his alleged involvement in Delhi's excise policy case.

During the bail hearing of Sisodia, the ED argued that a profit margin of 12 percent was given, which was different from the opinion of the expert committee. The judge asks how much it should have been, to which the ED lawyer says '6 percent'.

"We have material that this was done at the behest of the arrested accused (Sisodia). There was also a violation of the system fixed for giving license for the sale of liquor. Cartels were formed. Some selected people benefited from it,'' ED's lawyer told the court, as quoted by Livelaw.

There was heavy security presence in and outside the Rouse Avenue Courts premises.

The supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a protest outside the court premises and raised slogans in Sisodia's support, whereas those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest seeking Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation over the case.

The federal agency produced Sisodia before special judge M K Nagpal.

The ED arrested Sisodia on Thursday evening in the Tihar jail, where he was lodged in connection with a case being probed by the CBI pertaining to alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.

The 51-year-old was placed under arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following his second round of questioning at the Tihar jail, they said.

The agency alleged Sisodia was "evasive" in his replies and was "not cooperating in the probe."

The first round of Sisodia's questioning by the ED took place on March 7.