Manish Sisodia was arrested by ED on Thursday. Earlier, he was arrested by the CBI, after which he has been sent to Tihar in judicial custody till March 20. Sisodia has been arrested by two different agencies in the same money laundering case related to the Delhi liquor scam. It is believed that Sisodia’s difficulties may increase due to the arrest by ED.
Former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on 26 February in the case of alleged money laundering in the Delhi liquor scam. After this, he was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on 6 March. On March 10, his bail plea was to be heard in the Rouse Avenue Court, but a day earlier i.e. on Thursday evening, he was arrested by the ED. The agency has taken this action after about 8 hours of questioning in Tihar Jail.
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Regarding his arrest :
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that Manish Sisodia would have got bail tomorrow (on Friday). He would have been released from jail, so ED arrested him today (on Thursday). Many types of questions are arising regarding this whole incident. For example, what does the arrest of Sisodia mean? Is it going to be difficult for Manish Sisodia to get bail now?
When Manish Sisodia is already in jail after being arrested by the CBI, why is the arrest by the ED considered important?CBI and ED are probing two cases C related to the Delhi liquor scam. Botn the agencies have so far arrested 12 people including Manish Sisodia. In the CBI case, five people including Vijay Nair and Sameer Mahendru have got bail.
Not only Sisodia, former Delhi government minister Satyendar Jain is also in jail for the last 9 months. He was arrested by the ED itself on 30 May 2022. In such a situation, it is now being speculated that like Jain, Sisodia may also take time to get bail soon. The agency says that it has enough evidence against Sisodia. If ED’s claim is true, then Sisodia’s difficulties may increase.
Actually the fact is that none of the accused arrested by ED in the case related to liquor scam has got bail till now. Now the question arises in the mind that how and how difficult it becomes to get bail for the person caught by ED? To know the answer to this question, one has to see the track record of ED.
Know ED’s track record from four arrests:
Former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested by ED on 30 May 2022 in money laundering case but he could not get bail till now. On the other hand, MP Sanjay Raut was arrested by the ED on August 1, 2022 in the money laundering case last year. He got bail on 9 November 2022 i.e. after 101 days.
Similarly, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was caught by the ED on November 1, 2021, who got bail after 13 months on December 27, 2022. Former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal was also arrested by ED in March 2016 but he had to struggle a lot to get bail. He was able to get bail after two years and two months in May 2018, that is, it can be said that it takes two months to two years for a person arrested by ED to come out of jail on bail.Legal difficulties will also increaseIndia Today tries to find out the legal reasons why the ED’s arrest is a big problem for Sisodia.
The CBI takes action under CrPC to investigate crimes, while the provision of arrest, custody and bail is different under money laundering.Under CrPC provisions, the prosecution has to prove the guilt of the accused, it has to show evidence of guilt against the accused. Courts consider the “triple test” for bail whether the accused can influence/interfere with the investigation? Can he run away from justice? And can the accused influence or threaten the witnesses or destroy the evidence? Whereas the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) which defines the work of ED is very strict. Section 45 of this Act imposes very stringent conditions for bail.
Under this, initially the accused has to prove himself innocent. Along with this, the accused will have to show evidence to prove himself innocent. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra says that double conditions and additional restrictions are imposed for bail under Section 45 of the PMLA and the arrested person has to prove that the allegations against him are baseless. On the other hand, Advocate Nizam Pasha says that the Money Laundering Act makes it very difficult for the accused to get bail. To grant bail, the Magistrate must find prima facie that the accused is not guilty.
Also Read- Preparation for CBI questioning in scam