New Delhi:
Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case, will be in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate till Friday.
Last week, a Delhi Court had remanded the Rajya Sabha MP to five-day custody of the probe agency which accuses him of being a “key conspirator” in the case.
The ED had told the court that a businessman had given Rs 2 crore to Mr Singh and this sum was part of the money trail in the case.
The agency also alleged that the AAP leader had close ties with several accused, including businessman Dinesh Arora — who recently turned approver in the case.
Mr Singh — who has denied any wrongdoing — was arrested on Wednesday after day-long searches at his residence.
He is the second senior AAP leader to be arrested in connection with the alleged irregularities in the liquor policy, after Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Mr Sisodia, who was arrested in February, is still in jail. He is fighting for bail in the Supreme Court, which has asked the ED several tough questions.
Mr Sisodia — the Delhi government’s excise commissioner during the formulation of the 2021 liquor policy that was later scrapped — is the prime accused in the case. Investigating agencies have referred to him as the “kingpin” and “mastermind”.
AAP has said Mr Singh’s arrest is a result of the BJP’s “frustration” with the Opposition parties coming together under the INDIA bloc ahead of next year’s general election.
The central investigating agencies contend that liquor companies were involved in framing the 2021 excise policy, which would have led to a 12 per cent profit for the firms.
They allege that a liquor lobby dubbed the “South Group” had paid kickbacks for it. Of the proposed 12 per cent profit, six per cent was routed to public servants through middlemen, the CBI has claimed.
