New Delhi:

If Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) benefited from Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy, why is it not an accused in the money laundering case relating to alleged irregularities, the Supreme Court asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today.

The bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SV Bhatti was hearing a request for bail by Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister who was arrested in February in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy.

“As far as PMLA is concerned, your whole case is that the benefits went to a political party. That political party is still not made an accused or Impleaded. How do you answer that? The political party is the beneficiary according to you,” the bench asked. 

The Supreme Court also asked if a cabinet note can be examined in a court of law. “I believe there are specific Constitution bench judgments barring us from examining cabinet notes. I do not know if it applies to Delhi, because it is a Union Territory. Though they have not raised it. Like the issue of how we cannot get into what is said in Parliament, now that has been referred to a larger bench,” Justice Khanna said.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented ED, will respond to both queries tomorrow.

Pressing for a bail order for Mr Sisiodia, his counsel Abhishek Singhvi listed how accused in the case have turned approvers and have been granted bail, but Mr Sisodia has been denied relief.

The 51-year-old AAP leader, effectively Number 2 in the party after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has denied any wrongdoing and alleged that the central agencies had cooked up a case for BJP’s political goals.

The case against Mr Sisodia is centred around a liquor policy introduced by the Arvind Kejriwal government in November 2021. Under the policy, the government withdrew from retail sale of liquor and allowed private licensees to run stores. A government report later flagged alleged irregularities and “undue benefits” to liquor licencees. The case is being investigated by the CBI and the ED.

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday searched Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s home in Delhi over a money laundering case linked to the liquor policy case that haunts the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.

Mr Singh joins Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, Telangana politician K Kavitha, and others in being raided, questioned or arrested, or all three in connection with alleged corruption in the now-withdrawn liquor sales policy introduced by the Delhi government in 2021.

READ | Searches At AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s House In Delhi Liquor Policy Case

Mr Sisodia was arrested in March and has failed in repeated attempts to get bail.

READ | CBI Explains Why Manish Sisodia Was Arrested After 8-Hour Questioning

Months before today’s raids, a defiant Mr Singh posed next to posters outside his home “welcoming” the Enforcement Directorate; that photo was re-shared on X by the AAP, with fire emojis, this morning.

ED Raids On Sanjay Singh

Today’s raids against Mr Singh comes after he was named by an accused in the case – businessman Dinesh Arora – who later became an ‘approver’, and a font of information for the authorities.

READ | Delhi Liquor Policy Case Explained: Allegations, Investigations, Arrests

Mr Arora was released on bail on August 1.

The agency believes Sanjay Singh arranged the meeting between Dinesh Arora and Manish Sisodia, who has been arrested by both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Mr Sisodia was then the Delhi government’s excise minister.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has filed three chargesheets so far, has never actually named Sanjay Singh as an accused nor summoned him to record a statement. The agency has, however, referred to the AAP leader in its documents – something that sparked a massive row of its own.

A furious Mr Singh claimed a conspiracy to “tarnish” his political credentials and image. He wrote to the Union Finance Secretary (the Enforcement Directorate reports to the Finance Ministry) for permission to prosecute the agency chief for making “false and derogatory claims” against him.

This was after the central agency told the courts one (of four) reference to Mr Singh was a “typographical/clerical error”; the agency said it wanted to name Rahul Singh – then the Delhi excise commissioner – at that place, and that naming Sanjay Singh was an “inadvertent error”.

The AAP, however, alleged Mr Singh’s name has been mentioned in the chargesheet “at the behest of the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office)” to defame the party and its leaders. Mr Singh slammed the agency for conducting “a baseless” probe into the alleged scam.

Arvind Kejriwal Responds

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal came out in support of his colleague.

READ | “1,000 Searches But Nothing”: Arvind Kejriwal As AAP MP Is Raided

He has accused the Enforcement Directorate of acting on behalf of the BJP (he did not name the party) to target rivals ahead of next year’s general election. Mr Kejriwal also claimed “more than 1,000 raids” had failed to find “a single paise” of illegally acquired money.

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