AAP claims ED has also given 'clean chit' to Dy CM Sisodia as agency carries out raids in Excise case

New Delhi: The AAP on Tuesday claimed the Enforcement Directorate has given a ''clean chit'' to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case and argued that the probe agency would have otherwise raided the senior leader's house.

On Monday, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had said the CBI, too, had given a clean chit to Sisodia. The agency, however, categorically denied it, saying the case remains under investigation and it has not absolved anyone of the charges.

The AAP's claim comes after the ED conducted searches across Delhi and five states on Tuesday as part of its money laundering investigation into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy.

The ED officials said around 30 premises in Delhi, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are being searched and individuals named in the case are being raided. But these do not include the premises linked to Sisodia or any other government servant. "It is a matter of happiness for the AAP that the ED also has given a clean chit to Sisodia today after the CBI did so ," AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said at a press conference.

"The ED carried out raids at various locations but did not come to Manish Sisodia's residence despite him being the accused number-1. They (ED officials) developed cold feet. They left him because they felt that going to his house would be humiliating," he added.

There was no immediate reaction from the ED to the AAP's claim.

Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh dubbed the ED's raid as a new drama of the BJP and alleged that the prime minister has given a clear instruction to the probe agency to recover anything gold and assets from anybody that can be linked to Sisodia as the CBI failed to find anything incriminating against him. He dared the Centre to ask the probe agency to carry out searches at Sisodia's residence and said like the CBI, it will also not find anything incriminating against him.