PATH OF THE PROBE

How the ED interrogation of Manish Sisodia unfolded

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

MANISH SISODIA has been in judicial custody for almost a month now. He was first arrested by the CBI on February 26 and sent to judicial custody on March 6. He carried the Gita to Tihar jail and was immersed in it. On March 10, the ED arrested him from jail for alleged money laundering in the excise policy scam, which allegedly cost the Delhi exchequer₹2,873 crore. He has also been accused of destroying digital evidence. He was in ED custody till March 22.

During his stay in the lock-up on the third floor of the ED headquarters in Delhi, Sisodia woke up at 7am, meditated, had dal and roti for breakfast and was then interrogated for eight hours by a senior officer. He slept on an elevated mattress in an air-conditioned room. His neighbour was Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondol, who is in ED custody in a cattle-smuggling case.

“Can I have a cup of tea?’’ Sisodia had asked on the first day of ED custody. “With milk, please. I have not had a cup since morning.’’ After his experiences in court and in Tihar jail, he seemed to have settled well in the ED lock-up. He was slightly ruffled though, on catching a glimpse of the rather burly Mondol.

Sisodia is now back in Tihar jail, under judicial custody till April 5 in the CBI’s case of graft and the subsequent money laundering case by the ED. He is accused of tweaking the liquor policy without approval of the competent authority (the lieutenant governor) to extend undue favours to licensees post tender—for which the FIR was filed on August 17, 2022.

Sisodia’s case is unique.