The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with its money-laundering probe into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy. He was in judicial custody after being arrested by the CBI in the same case.

Sisodia was arrested by the ED a day before a Delhi court is scheduled to hear his bail application in the CBI case. Sources in the ED said Sisodia was arrested after being interrogated by agency officials for the second time on Thursday inside Tihar jail about his role in the excise policy irregularities in which bribes were allegedly paid to some AAP politicians in lieu of favouring certain liquor businessmen.

“He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. We are probing the money trail and larger conspiracy behind the liquor scam,” said an ED official.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26. A Delhi court had on Monday sent him to judicial custody till March 20. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet that the ED action was aimed at keeping his party colleague Sisodia “inside at all cost”.

“Manish was first arrested by the CBI. The CBI did not find any evidence, no money was found in the raid. There is a bail hearing tomorrow. Manish would have been released tomorrow. So today the ED arrested him. They have only one aim — to keep Manish inside at all cost by creating new fake cases every day. The people are watching. The people will respond,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.