NEW DELHI: AAP MP Sanjay Singh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in a money laundering case. He was arrested following the raids by ED officials at his residence in connection to the excise policy case.
Earlier today, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the ED raids on AAP leader Sanjay Singh's residence showed that the BJP was resorting to desperate measures as it stares at a defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Many such raids will take place but there is nothing to be scared of, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener said.
Earlier in May this year, MP Sanjay Singh in a letter to Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said that the ED Director and Assistant Director deliberately linked his name to the alleged liquor scam without any basis, tarnishing his public image and defaming him.
Singh mentioned that his name was added on the basis of statements from Dinesh Arora.
Singh also alleged that the officers misused their position tarnished his public image and demanded prosecution against them. He said he already sent a legal notice to the officers to issue an open and public apology.
The MP was questioned for hours before being taken into custody.Singh is considered the second-most powerful politician in AAP after party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He is the third AAP leader to be arrested by a central agency. Before him, Manish Sisodia was arrested earlier this year in the excise policy case and Satyendar Jain last year in connection with a separate money laundering case.
It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.