Manish Sisodia: Delhi Court Extends AAP Leader's ED Custody By 5 More Days

The ED, which had arrested Manish Sisodia on 9 March, had sought the custody extension of the embattled leader.

Image for representation. 

(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

A Delhi Court on Friday, 17 March, extended embattled AAP leader Manish Sisodia's Enforcement Directorate custody by 5 more days, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. 

The central agency had arrested Sisodia on 9 March and on 10 March had gotten his 7-day custody which expired on 17 March. The ED filed a peition seeking extension of Sisodia's custody, which is what the court was hearing.

During the hearing on Friday, Sisodia's lawyer asked the court if ED was a "proxy agency of CBI" and contended that the central agency had still not said anything "regarding the proceeds of the crime, which is fundamental to the case."

The ED, however, told the court that crucial information had come up during Sisodia’s custody and he had to be confronted with other accused persons. It said voluminous data from Sisodia’s email and mobile is also being forensically analysed.

During last week's hearing Sisodia's lawyer had slammed the central agency for for considering arrest as a right without going through the due process of law. 

"It has become a fashion these days that the agencies take arrests as a right. It's time for the courts to come down heavily on this sense of entitlement,"his lawyer Dayan Krishna said in the special court.

ED Arrest: The ED arrested the former deputy chief minister of Delhi after questioning him for two days regarding the excise policy case, NDTV reported. 

This comes as a further blow to the embattled leader, who has been attempting to secure bail in a CBI court over the last few days. 

Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on 6 March had sent Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to judicial custody in Tihar jail till 20 March, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

CBI Arrest: The CBI had arrested the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader after questioning him for over seven hours on 26 February.

Nine senior Opposition leaders wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, 5 March, condemning what they termed the "witch-hunt" of AAP leader Manish Sisodia and "the blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition."