New Delhi: In its fourth supplementary prosecution complaint filed in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — while quoting from the statement of accused Dinesh Arora — claimed that AAP MP Sanjay Singh was “extremely close” to Arora, and was the connecting link between him and then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
The prosecution complaint, the ED-equivalent of a chargesheet, was filed in May this year. Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, was arrested by the agency Wednesday after raids at his New Delhi residence, a day after a court allowed Dinesh Arora, a Delhi-based businessman, to turn approver in the money laundering case.
Reacting sharply to the arrest, Delhi minister Atishi said Wednesday that the ED “survives on the false allegations against AAP leaders”. Taking to social media platform X, she also attacked the BJP, saying she wondered how low the party would stoop in fear of losing to the INDIA alliance.
VIDEO | "AAP will continue to fight. It's not a fight to bring Sanjay Singh or Manish Sisodia or Satyendra Jain out of jail but to save the Constitution," says Delhi minister @AtishiAAP on the arrest of AAP MP Sanjay Singh in Delhi excise policy case. pic.twitter.com/XvKbTy0752
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 4, 2023
Shortly after his arrest, the AAP released a video in which Sanjay Singh claimed that the ED found nothing at his residence and forcefully arrested him. He went on to allege that his arrest is a sign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “hopeless condition and feeling of defeat”.
मरना मंजूर है,
झुकना मंजूर नहीं हैमैंने Adani के घोटालों का खुलासा किया, ED के पास शिकायतें की
लेकिन अडानी के ख़िलाफ़ कोई कार्रवाई नहीं हुई।
Modi जी 2024 का चुनाव बुरी तरह हार रहे हैं
वो जुल्म करके, लोगों को Jail में डाल कर जीत नहीं सकते।
मैं पहले भी Adani के घोटालों के… pic.twitter.com/ofzl6I4wwM
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) October 4, 2023
“I have been raising questions about the Adani issue and have complained to ED about it but there hasn’t been any action against it. Rather, today all of a sudden ED comes to my residence and starts searches. They found nothing but are still arresting me forcefully. We want to say Modiji this is a sign of your hopelessness and feeling of defeat. This is an example of how one prime minister is using dictatorship and throwing opposition in jail to win elections. Whatever happens, I will accept death but will not be afraid of exposing corruption by the Modi government and Adani,” he said in the video.
In the prosecution complaint, the ED also claimed that Dinesh Arora once met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Sanjay Singh’s residence. It further alleged that Arora arranged funds for AAP after Sanjay Singh called him and said that the party was in need of funding before the assembly elections.
The 2020-21 excise policy was first introduced by the Kejriwal government in November 2021. In July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar flagged alleged violations in the policy, claiming “deliberate and gross procedural lapses” that allowed liquor licensees to get “undue benefits”. Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena then recommended a CBI probe into the matter. The Kejriwal government scrapped the policy soon after, amid the allegations. A pre-existing policy was then extended.
Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case in February this year.
The ‘deal’
According to the prosecution complaint, Dinesh Arora had allegedly taken accused businessman Amit Arora to the residence of Sanjay Singh. There, Singh purportedly told Amit Arora that if he accommodates some of the MP’s aides in his liquor business, he (Singh) could arrange a meeting between the businessman and Sisodia, who was serving as deputy CM and excise minister at the time.
Amit Arora, director of Gurugram-based Buddy Retail Pvt. Ltd., was arrested by the ED in connection with the money laundering case in November last year. He was also on the list of accused in the first FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the excise policy case.
A few days after the meeting, the ED alleged, Amit Arora was called to Sanjay Singh’s residence and told by the MP that he was being taken for a meeting with Sisodia.
As part of a “deal” between the two, the agency further claimed, Sisodia assured that the excise policy would be tweaked to “increase the brand registration criterion for IMFL brands at the behest of both Amit Arora and Dinesh Arora”. In return, Vivek Tyagi, a close aide of Sanjay Singh, was given stakes in Amit Arora’s Aralias Hospitality Pvt Ltd., the ED alleged.
Sanjay 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.
Sources in the ED later clarified that Singh’s name came up four times in the prosecution complaint, out of which one was an “inadvertent/typographical error”.
In May, Sanjay Singh also wrote to Finance Secretary T.V. Somanathan, seeking sanction to prosecute Sanjay Mishra for making “false and derogatory claims” against him in connection with the excise policy case.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: How the non-brand-conscious drinker saved Delhi revenues from excise policy hit