A Delhi court on October 10 extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh till October 13. Mr. Singh was arrested on October 4 in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam case.
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal extended the custody by three days. The ED had asked for 5-day custody of the AAP MP. The court also asked Mr. Singh not to talk to media when he was produced in the court on Tuesday.
While seeking his custody, the central investigation agency alleged that Mr. Singh had played a key role in framing and implementing the Delhi liquor policy.
Mr. Singh, who is considered close aide of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, is the third senior AAP leader to be arrested in less than a year-and-a-half. Former Delhi Public Works Department Minister Satyendar Jain is in jail for over a year in an alleged money laundering case. Former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi and AAP leader Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 2023 in the same case.
The court, earlier this month, allowed Mr. Arora and co-accused, Raghav Magunta, who is the son of YSR Congress Party MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, to turn government witnesses in the case.
The ED probe is based on a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others on August 17 last year, on a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The case alleges deliberate irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licensees in the form of waiver/reduction in the licence fee, extension of L-1 licences without approval, etc. The ED has quantified the alleged “proceeds of crime” in the case to be at least ₹1,934 crore.
