New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh Wednesday after a day-long raid at his Delhi residence in connection with a money-laundering case linked with the capital’s controversial excise policy in 2020-21.
Another senior AAP leader and Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is also in custody since February in the case for alleged money-laundering.
Probe agencies have alleged criminal conspiracy on the part of Delhi’s ruling AAP government, accusing it of taking kickbacks of Rs 90-100 crore for granting liquor licenses to private players. Sisodia was in charge of the excise department at that time.
The raids at the Rajya Sabha MP’s home came a day after Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court allowed two accused in the case – Raghav Magunta Reddy and Dinesh Arora – to turn approvers.
Singh’s name surfaced in a supplementary remand note last year, prompting the MP to send legal notices to then ED director Sanjay Mishra and joint director Jogender Singh.
However, the ED in its affidavit before the court, alleged that accused-cum-approver Dinesh Arora had given a statement saying Sanjay Singh was the connecting link between him and Manish Sisodia. According to the agency, Sanjay Singh facilitated a meeting between Delhi businessman Arora and Sisodia.
The agency also claimed Arora arranged funds for the party after Sanjay Singh told him the party needed money before the last Assembly elections.
The alleged excise scam came to light in 2022 when Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the AAP government’s 2020-21 excise policy.
He did so after the Delhi chief secretary highlighted that the previous year’s policy had “deliberate and gross procedural lapses” that allowed liquor licensees to get “undue benefits”.
The policy was launched by the Delhi government in November 2021 through which it planned to exit the state’s liquor business by handing it over to private players. It was scrapped in July last year after multiple controversies and probes around it.
#WATCH | On the arrest of AAP leader Sanjay Singh in Delhi liquor policy case, Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva says, "Today, one thing is clear that the truth cannot be hidden…After Sanjay Singh, it's Arvind Kejriwal. pic.twitter.com/A9jFJ1dtt3
— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2023
ED’s case against Singh:
The agency has alleged in its chargesheet that Sanjay Singh was “extremely close” to Dinesh Arora, who turned approver on 3 October. The agency also claimed that Dinesh Arora met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once at Sanjay Singh’s residence.
Apart from arranging funds for AAP, the probe agency alleged Arora took liquor businessman Amit Arora to Singh’s home. The MP allegedly assured the businessman of a meeting with Sisodia if he gave jobs to Singh’s aides.
As part of the subsequent deal, Sisodia allegedly told the Aroras he would tweak the excise policy criteria for the brand registration of Indian-made foreign liquor, according to the ED.
In return, the probe agency said, a close associate of Sanjay Singh, Vivek Tyagi, was given a stake in M/s Aralias Hospitality Pvt Ltd, which is run by Amit Arora.
BJP on Singh’s arrest
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said Singh’s arrest proved that “truth could not be hidden”. “His fate was sealed when Dinesh Arora turned approver. Arora said in his statement the first day that Singh was present in Arvind Kejriwal’s house when he went to meet him,” the BJP leader said.
(with inputs from Mayank Kumar)