ED arrests AAP's Sanjay Singh under PMLA in Delhi excise policy case

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged role in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy.
 

Singh is the second prominent AAP leader, after former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, whom central agencies have arrested in the case, while raids have been conducted related to the case in the past on the premises of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi's K Kavitha, among others. Another AAP leader, former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, is in jail in a separate money laundering case.
 

In a video recorded before his arrest, Singh accused the ED of "forcibly arresting him without any evidence".
 

"I exposed Adani's scams and filed multiple complaints with ED, but no action was taken against Adani. Modi ji is losing the 2024 elections badly," he said.

Kejriwal termed the arrest "totally illegal", a sign that the PM was "rattled" and alleged the government would arrest several Opposition leaders in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. AAP spokesperson Reena Gupta said Singh's arrest was because he consistently raised the Adani issue.

The Delhi BJP said the heat of the liquor 'scam' probe will ultimately reach Kejriwal. The Rajya Sabha chairman had suspended Singh from the House during the monsoon session for violating the directives of the chair.

The AAP leadership pointed out that the ED, before Wednesday's arrest, had not even once summoned Singh in the case to record his statement. In April, the ED filed an application in a court to correct a "typographical/clerical" error related to Singh's name in a charge sheet.

According to sources, Wednesday's searches at Singh's residence and his arrest came after a businessman, an accused in the case, who later became an 'approver', named him for arranging his meeting with Sisodia, who was later arrested both by the ED and CBI.

According to PTI, the search and subsequent arrest of Singh came a day after a Delhi court allowed Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, and Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Arora, to turn approver in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The anti-money laundering agency had arrested Arora in July when he was already declared an approver in a related corruption case being probed by the CBI.

In a chargesheet, the ED said Arora told the agency that Singh allegedly requested him to ask restaurant owners to generate funds for the AAP for the Delhi assembly elections, and later, Singh helped him get a liquor shop shifted.

Singh is expected to be produced before a local court on Thursday, where the ED will seek his custodial interrogation.