Manish Sisodia's Personal Assistant Picked Up by ED, Being Quizzed in Delhi Liquor Policy Scam

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday picked up personal assistant of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. PA Devender Sharma is currently being questioned in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam.

Sources said that the central agency raided at least five locations in Delhi-NCR and brought Sharma to the ED headquarters. No arrests have been made so far, sources added.

Reacting to the development, the deputy CM said, “They got my house raided through false FIR, searched bank lockers, went to my hometown but found nothing. Today they got ED to raid my PA’s house and nothing was found there too. They (BJP) fear losing the election.”

Reacting to Sisodia’s allegation, the BJP said, “If you or your PA is innocent, then go to court and get your FIR quashed. This party plays victim card. As I mentioned earlier, we all have Aadhar card, pan card, voter ID card but this party has victimhood card.”

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Vijay Nair, another aide of Sisodia, over the scam. Nair is one of 15 persons, including Sisodia, named in the FIR.

The AAP has described the case as politically motivated and claimed the BJP government is scared of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “emergence as a national alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

Delhi’s new liquor policy was rolled back in July by the Kejriwal government. On July 30, Sisodia, who also heads the Excise department in the national capital, announced the scrapping of the government’s new liquor rules under Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, now, allowing only government-owned liquor vendors to operate in Delhi.

The rollback came after Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe in connection with the new policy regime, directing Delhi’s Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to submit a detailed report of the “role of officers and civil servants in its illegal formulation, amendments and implementation.”

Kumar, in his report, pointed out that the decision to change the liquor policy was done without the authorisation of the L-G, provided ‘undue benefits’ to private liquor vendors, and sought a response regarding the same from Sisodia on July 8.

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