Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court today (October 13) sent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh to judicial custody till October 27 (Friday). He was arrested in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. Special Judge MK Nagpal ordered Singh to be sent to jail after the probe agency produced him before the court on the expiry of his Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.
A lawyer for the Rajya Sabha MP had mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula.
During the brief hearing, the judge also directed Singh not to give speech about unrelated matters inside the court. The judge issued the direction after Singh claimed before the court that the ED didn't work on his complaint “against Adani”. Singh was referring to industrialist Gautam Adani, who is considered close to the ruling establishment at the Centre with which Singh's AAP has been locked in a running feud.
“No unrelated matter. If you've to give speech about Adani and Modi, I'll ask for your production through video conferencing from now onwards,” the judge said. The Rajya Sabha MP claimed before the court that the ED did not ask him relevant questions during his custodial interrogation.
“All they asked is why did I take money from mother, why I sent Rs 10,000 to my wife's account. ED has become an entertainment department, lies after lies. I gave them complaint against Adani but they did nothing,” Singh told the judge.
The anti-money laundering agency had arrested Singh on October 4.
Grounds of arrest were not provided
According to information provided by the reporter, Singh has also challenged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand. The lawyer said that the grounds of arrest were not provided by the Enforcement Directorate to Singh. The AAP MP will be produced today before Rouse Avenue Court at 2 pm. Singh's lawyer said proper grounds of arrest were not provided to him. “Alright,” the court said.
On October 10, a trial court had remanded Singh, arrested earlier this month, to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate till October 13.
Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22
The ED's money laundering case stems from the CBI FIR. According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 and undue favours were extended to licence holders.
The Delhi government had implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
