5-day ED custody for Sanjay Singh in excise case

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday sent AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till October 10 in connection with the money laundering case linked with the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy.

Sanjay Singh was arrested after the Enforcement Directorate raided his premises in connection with the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case on Wednesday. Singh, 51, is the third AAP leader who has been arrested.

The Enforcement Directorate has sought a 10-day remand of the AAP leader. However, the court sent Singh to ED remand till October 10.

Appearing for the ED, Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Matta said the agency found transactions worth Rs 2 crore in two tranches and AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s close aide Dinesh Arora confirmed from Singh telephonically regarding receipt of the amount.

Matta told the court that a total of 239 places have been searched including raids at Singh’s house on October 4 so far in the case. He further said that Arora’s employee gave Rs 2 crore to Sarvesh, an employee of the AAP leader at his residence.

“We have to extract digital data, further he needs to be interrogated with other persons. We had called three people for interrogation who have to be confronted with Sanjay Singh,” he said.

The ED informed the court that Sarvesh Mishra, an employee of Sanjay Singh, has been summoned for questioning on Friday.

Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur, representing Sanjay Singh, said there is a big question on the credibility of their star witness.

“This changing stand of Dinesh Arora, both in CBI and ED, the tune changes. Supplementary statements have less credibility. What is remand for? Eliciting remand and truth, and, why is 167 there, because your Lordships is the guardian,” he said.

“Please see what questions they asked, now this non-cooperation suddenly changes and they say they want to interrogate me (Sanjay Singh) now. It is because there is a separate agenda. What is further interrogation? Jab jiska mann karta hai uspe utha ke daal dete hai (They pick up whoever they want),” Mathur said.

The ED said if he’s (Dinesh Arora) an approver, there can’t be an apprehension on the credibility, since the permission to become approver is given by the Court.

Zoeb Hussain, appearing for the ED, said Dinesh Arora had said he was threatened by Vijay Nair and this is why he was not revealing the names of influential persons like Sanjay Singh.

Sanjay Singh was arrested after the Enforcement Directorate raided his premises on Wednesday. The ED raids began before 7 a.m. Wednesday, when the MP was home with his wife, parents, domestic help and his pet dogs, fish and birds. The ED raids came months after the agency raided three of his associates — Sarvesh Mishra, Ajit and Vivek Tyagi – over their alleged involvement in the purported Delhi liquor scam.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited Singh’s residence on Wednesday night, said agencies have conducted thousands of raids but they did not find any money.

“They (ED officials) searched his entire house but nothing was found and he was arrested in the evening. Elections are coming and after the formation of the INDIA alliance, PM Modi is desperate… They will arrest many people till 2024. Sanjay Singh is a lion…We file a case in court,” he said.

Ananya Bhatnagar

With inputs from News18

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