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.