ED running fake news of attaching Rs 52 cr-worth assets of Sisodia in excise policy case: Kejriwal
New Delhi, Jul 7: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused the BJP-led Centre of defaming AAP leader Manish Sisodia by running "fake news" of the Enforcement Directorate attaching assets worth Rs 52 crore belonging to the jailed leader in the Delhi excise policy case.
He said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has, in fact, attached properties worth Rs 80 lakh of Sisodia and his wife.
The ED on Friday said it has attached two immovable assets of Sisodia and his wife apart from bank deposits worth Rs 11.49 lakh of the ex-deputy chief minister in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said in Hindi, "Prime Minister, when you did not find anything against Manish Sisodia, you started defaming him through ED. Your ED is running fake news on TV channels saying that Rs 52 crore worth assets of Manish Sisodia have been attached."
Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, clarified that in reality, Rs 80 lakh worth of assets have been attached. These properties belong to pre-2018 period when the excise policy was not even framed, he said.
He also said that these assets have already been declared.
"People would not have thought that a day would come that the prime minister of a great country like India would try to eliminate his political rivals by lying openly. Who is the actual corrupt, you also know. If you have guts, you should catch them," the chief minister asserted.
The probe agency has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach assets worth Rs 52.24 crore of the Sisodia couple and some other accused being probed in this case.
Joining the chorus, Delhi Cabinet minister Atishi said the central dispensation is "spreading lies" about Sisodia's assets.
"If the BJP takes a look at ED's documents, they can see that Sisodia has assets of Rs 81 lakh which include Rs 11.5 lakh in his bank account, a flat worth Rs 5 lakh that was purchased in 2005 and another flat worth Rs 65 lakh bought in 2018," she said, showing the documents of ED.
She said the Centre was going after the AAP leader out of "frustration and vindictiveness".
"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is orchestrating a witch-hunt against Delhi's former deputy chief minister Sisodia and planting fake stories in media that the ED attached his assets amounting to Rs 52 crore in the excise case," Atishi added.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Congress lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and demanded Kejriwal to expel Sisodia from the party.
"Kejriwal should expel Sisodia from the party after his properties were attached by the ED today. The investigative agencies have collected ample evidence of his involvement in the scam," Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary alleged that all AAP ministers and leaders are corrupt, adding that Sisodia should be expelled from the party.
Two immovable properties of Sisodia and his wife Seema Sisodia and a land/flat of arrested accused Rajesh Joshi -- the director of Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd -- have been attached, the ED said. It also attached a land/flat of Gautam Malhotra, a Punjab-based liquor businessman and son of former SAD MLA Deep Malhotra.
Gautam Malhotra was arrested by the ED in the case earlier.
Movable assets worth Rs 44.29 crore were also attached as part of the same order. These included Manish Sisodia's bank balances worth Rs 11.49 lakh apart from Rs 16.45 crore worth of deposits of a company Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd and others, the agency said in a statement.
Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd is a company of liquor businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall who was also arrested in this case by the ED.
Sisodia, 51, was arrested by the agency in March and is currently in judicial custody.
This is the second attachment in this case after the ED a few months ago attached properties worth Rs 76.54 crore of other accused such as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in-charge Vijay Nair, liquor businessman and promoter of Indospirits company Sameer Mahandru, promoter of liquor company Buddy Retail Pvt Ltd. Amit Arora, Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Pillai and others.
The ED had said in its chargesheet filed before a local court a few months ago that the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 was brought in by the AAP leadership, specifically by Manish Sisodia, to "continuously generate and channel illegal funds" to themselves.
It is alleged by the ED and the CBI that the policy to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
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SRH knocked out of play-off race after washout against DC
Hyderabad, May 5 (PTI): Sunrisers Hyderabad were eliminated from the play-offs race after their Indian Premier League fixture against Delhi Capitals was called off due to heavy rain following the first innings here on Monday.
Pat Cummins-led SRH pace attack ran through the DC batting line-up to limit the visitors to 133/7 before rain dashed the slim hopes of the home team. Both teams shared a point each for the abandoned game.
With 13 points from 11 games, DC remain in contention for a top-four spot.
After reaching the final last year, it was a season to forget for SRH who could not replicate their ballistic run of 2024 with the bat. Having collected only seven points from 11 matches, SRH will now be playing for pride.
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were already eliminated from the competition.
Before rain lashed the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, the hosts put up a clinical effort with the ball and were on course for only their fourth win of the season until rain arrived, creating large puddles of water on the outfield. The match officials decided to call off the game at 11.10 pm local time.
The shot selection of Delhi Capitals' batters contributed to their downfall after being put in to bat.
They were left reeling at 29 for five in 7.1 overs with captain Cummins causing the maximum damage.
Cummins had Karun Nair caught behind on the very first ball of the match with a good length ball around the off-stump. It was a rather loose shot from the DC batter first up.
Faf du Plessis departed in Cummins' following over, a failed attempt to put the relentless Australian away for a boundary. Not getting any loose ball from Cummins, the South Africa went for a pull on the charge only to be caught by the wicket-keeper.
Cummins' third victim was Abhishek Porel who was caught after mistiming a flick.
Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat then got into the act by dismissing Axar Patel and K L Rahul respectively. The in-form Rahul went for a drive on the up but ended up edging it to Ishan Kishan behind the stumps.
It was one way traffic until Tristian Stubbs (41 not out off 36) and impact player Ashutosh Sharma (41 off 26) combined to take DC to a respectable total. They shared a 66-run stand off 45 balls.
Sharma was able to break the shackles by depositing leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari for a couple of sixes over long-on in the 15th over.
Stubbs did not look as comfortable as Sharma in the middle but managed to provide much needed support to the latter. The South African could find only four boundaries with the last one coming off the final ball of the innings.
🚨 News 🚨
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 5, 2025
Match 55 between @SunRisers and @DelhiCapitals has been called off due to wet outfield.
Both teams share a point each.
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/1MkIwk4VNE
#TATAIPL | #SRHvDC pic.twitter.com/VnVZWjsjGJ
