Excise policy scam: HC asks ED to respond to Sanjay Singh's bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a bail plea by AAP MP Sanjay Singh, arrested in a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy 'scam'.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued notice to the investigating agency and listed the matter for further hearing on January 29.

The Rajya Sabha member, arrested by the ED on October 4 last year, has challenged a trial court's December 22 order dismissing his bail plea in the money laundering case.

Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing for Singh, submitted that the senior AAP leader has been in custody for the last three months and no role has been attributed to him in the predicate offence.

He said Singh was arrested after the ED's "star witness" made a statement.

The ED has alleged that Singh played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy, which benefited certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, for monetary consideration.

The trial court had observed that he was connected with the "proceeds of crime to the extent of Rs 2 crore" and the case against him was "genuine".

The case pertains to alleged corruption in formulating and executing the city government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.

The CBI registered an FIR over alleged corruption following a recommendation by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena.

The trial court had said the Enforcement Directorate's "basic case" was "approved" by the Supreme Court, which had also "endorsed" that bribes or kickbacks were paid for the formulation of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22.

It had rejected the submissions of Singh that he cannot be made an accused in the money laundering case as he was not named in the main FIR by the CBI.

Referring to some apex court judgments, the trial court had said the CBI neither naming Singh in the FIR nor summoning him to join the investigation was of no relevance if the investigating agency showed sufficient evidence to support his involvement and further detention.

It had said it had been shown that Singh was directly or indirectly involved in activities or processes connected with the proceeds of crime.

The trial court had said the bail applications of other accused, including Sameer Mahendru, Amit Arora, Vijay Nair, Arun Ramachandran Pillai, Amandeep Dhall and Abhishek Boinpally, were already dismissed and its interpretation of the PMLA provisions while dismissing the applications were not set aside by any superior court.

It had said the ED showed accused-turned-approver Dinesh Arora paid Singh Rs 2 crore.