NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant relief to arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, in connection with the Enforcement Directorate (ED)-registered money laundering case allegedly linking to the now-scrapped excise policy of the Arvind Kejriwal-led city government.
Dismissing the plea, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that the plea is “premature” and the ED investigation into the matter is ongoing. The AAP leader was arrested on October 4 from his residence following a day-long raid and hours of questioning as part of the central agency’s money laundering probe following which he was in ED custody initially for 5 days last week.
As per the ED, Sanjay Singh had been closely associated with liquor businessman Dinesh Arora, earlier accused in the excise policy case by the CBI and the ED and later turned approver in the case, since 2017, as revealed by Arora and also verified through call records. Singh’s counsel in their argument stated that the evidence was planted against the AAP leader.
The high court, however, said it cannot consider this argument at the present stage. As per the remand note, Sanjay Singh has been a part of the conspiracy of collecting kickbacks from liquor groups in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. Singh’s associates, Vivek Tyagi, Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra also allegedly had close associations with Dinesh Arora, the document says.
Sanjay Singh has received proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 2 crores in the Delhi liquor scam on two occasions, the remand note stated. In the previous hearing before the special court, appearing for Singh, Senior Advocate Rebecca John had argued that the ED had no ground for seeking an extension of Singh’s custody in the case which was based on “shifting statements” of coaccused Amit Arora, terming the ED charges as “ fanciful allegations.”
‘Singh collected kickbacks from liquor groups’
The AAP leader was arrested on October 4 from his residence following a day-long raid and hours of questioning as part of the central agency’s money laundering probe following which he was in ED custody initially for 5 days last week. Sanjay Singh had allegedly been part of the conspiracy of collecting kickbacks from liquor groups in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.