ED raids 40 locations in Delhi liquor policy case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 16, 2022 conducted fresh raids at about 40 locations across the country as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, official sources said.

According to them, searches are being carried out at locations connected to the supply chain networks, distributors, and business owners of alcoholic beverages in Nellore and a few other cities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi-NCR.

The federal agency is conducting more raids in this case after conducting initial searches at around 45 locations nationwide on September 6.

Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, and other bureaucrats have been charged in a CBI FIR that is the basis for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case of money laundering in the excise policy. The excise policy has now been reversed.

On August 19, the CBI carried up raids in the case at Sisodia's (50) house in Delhi, the residence of Arava Gopi Krishna, a former Delhi excise commissioner, and an IAS officer, as well as 19 other places in seven states and Union Territories.

In the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi administration, Sisodia is in charge of a number of departments, including education and excise.

The ED is looking into whether there were any claimed anomalies in the creation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, which was released in November of last year, as well as whether the accused earned any alleged "proceeds of crime" in the form of tainted money.

Satyendar Jain, a minister, and leader of the AAP is anticipated to be questioned by the agency in connection with this case in the Tihar jail on Friday after the agency received approval from a local court to do so.