Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh today approached the Delhi High Court, challenging his arrest in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The counsel of Sanjay Singh mentioned the matter before a Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula.
He said the AAP leader was not served the grounds of his arrest properly. The Court has assured that the matter would be listed on today only.
A Delhi court on Thursday remanded Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh to Enforcement Directorate custody till October 10 in Delhi Excise Policy case.
The order was passed by Special Judge MK Nagpal on a petition filed by the national agency seeking 10 days custody of Singh.
The AAP leader was arrested by the ED on Wednesday after raids at his residence.
Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, representing ED, argued that an amount of about Rs two crore was exchanged at Singh’s residence.
He said the same was confirmed by Dinesh Arora’s CA after search at 239 places.
The national agency said it needed custody of Singh to confront him with digital evidence, including evidence from his phone.
Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing for Singh, opposed the 10 days’ remand on the grounds that it was an absurd proposition for someone who was not involved at all.
Mathur contended that the case was about liquor policy and Sanjay had nothing to do with it.
The Senior Advocate questioned the grounds on the basis of which Singh was arrested in the case. He contended that approver Dinesh Arora may have implicated Singh to secure his liberty.
Mentioning the ‘changing stand’ of businessman Arora, Mathur said he gave statements in March and April. Arora was granted bail and then his tune changes.
The ED refuted the claim in its rejoinder submissions that Arora may have been forced to implicate Singh in the case.
The counsel representing the agency said that they cannot dictate where they were arrested since it was the sole discretion of the IO.
The AAP leader himself addressed the court, asking why the approvers had suddenly decided to implicate him.
Singh was referring to the Court allowed Dinesh Arora and Raghav Magunta Reddy, who were accused in the case, to become approvers on Wednesday.
As per ED, Singh played a key role in framing and implementing the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy 2020-21, which was allegedly aimed at benefiting certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
The counsel for ED submitted that businessman Dinesh Arora told the agency that Singh introduced him to Manish Sisodia.
He further quoted Arora as saying that the businessman spoke to many restaurant owners on request of Singh and arranged cheques amounting to Rs 82 lakh, which was handed over to Sisodia for collection of party funds.
Both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered cases in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary.
The development comes days after a trial court extended the ED’s custody of Singh by three days on October 10. After the extension, the ED custody was slated to end today.
The ED has alleged that Singh played a key role in framing and implementing a now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy which was allegedly aimed at benefiting certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, was arrested by the ED on October 4 following the Central agency’s search at his residence. On October 5, he was initially remanded to ED custody till October 10 which was later extended till October 13.
Singh’s arrest marked the third high-profile arrest of an AAP leader in the excise policy case.
AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair was arrested in September 2022. Later, former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi and AAP leader, Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 2023. Both the leaders are still behind bars.
Sanjay Singh’s arrest came after the Court allowed businessmen Dinesh Arora and Raghav Magunta Reddy to become approvers in the case. Both Arora and Reddy were also accused in the case.
Dinesh Arora is said to have told the ED that he met Singh who introduced him to Manish Sisodia. The ED further quoted Arora as saying that he spoke to many restaurant owners at the request of Singh and arranged cheques amounting to ₹82 lakh which was handed over to Sisodia for the collection of party funds.
The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered cases in relation to the alleged excise policy scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary.