The Enforcement Directorate informed the SC that the agency has no objection to Sanjay Singh getting bail…reports Asian Lite News
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to AAP leader Sanjay Singh in a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy irregularities case. The court order came after the ED chose not to oppose Sanjay Singh’s bail plea.
A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna directed the release of Sanjay Singh on bail during the pendency of trial in a money laundering case relating to excise policy irregularities.
The Enforcement Directorate informed the SC that the agency has no objection to Sanjay Singh getting bail.
The ED response came after the court sought to know from the investigating agency whether it needed further custody of AAP leader Sanjay Singh in the excise policy case.
The court observed that Sanjay Singh had spent six months in jail.
The Supreme Court clarified that Sanjay Singh will be released on terms and conditions to be fixed by the trial court. The court also made it clear that concession shall not be cited as precedent. Meanwhile the court said that Sanjay Singh may continue with his political activities. In the meantime the top court disposed of the Sanjay Singh another plea challenging his arrest and remand in the case observing that it has become infructuous
The top court was hearing AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s plea against the Delhi High Court order refusing to grant him bail in the excise policy irregularities case.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh has approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order refusing to grant him bail in connection with an excise policy irregularities case.
In his bail plea, Sanjay Singh has challenged the Delhi High Court order dated February 7, 2024. Sanjay Singh moved to the High Court when, on December 22, 2023, the trial court dismissed his bail.
Sanjay Singh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on October 4, 2023, in the case.
According to ED, Sanjay Singh was alleged to be involved in creating a special purpose vehicle to launder the proceeds of crime that would have been generated from the business arising out of the policy changes as conspired by him and his co-conspirators.
ED had also stated that Sanjay Singh has been in possession of certain confidential documents pertaining to the investigation of this case that are not in the public domain.
Sanjay Singh in the Delhi High Court denied charges and said that he is guilty of any criminal wrongdoing or any violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in any manner whatsoever and therefore, the applicant’s life and liberty must be protected from unwarranted and unjustified encroachment at the hands of the Directorate of Enforcement on the basis of a false, malicious and motivated case without any merit.
Meanwhile, AAP national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar on Tuesday asserted that “truth has won” after the Supreme Court granted bail to Sanjay Singh. She accused that the entire case was fake and had been written in the BJP office.
“Today God is with us, Bajrang Bali is with us, truth has won. We were saying from the beginning that this entire case is fake and has been written in the BJP office. Even after about 500 raids, not even a single penny was recovered. Today the Supreme Court also said, what is the point of keeping him in custody when no money trail is found…” (ANI)
‘Kejriwal to run govt from jail, will not quit’
A day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody until April 15, AAP Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said that Kejriwal will run the government from jail as the party MLAs don’t want him to resign.
AAP MLAs of the Delhi Assembly met Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of jailed CM Arvind Kejriwal, on Tuesday in the national capital.
Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody until April 15 and is lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with a money-laundering case linked to a liquor excise policy scam.
“The party MLAs on Tuesday met Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal and asserted that the Delhi chief minister should continue to run the government from jail and not step down,” Saurabh Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.
Bharadwaj said that during the meeting, the AAP MLAs told Sunita Kejriwal that two crore people in Delhi stand with the chief minister and he should not resign at any cost.
Hitting out at the BJP-led central government, the AAP leader said, “BJP thinks that we should give the Chief Minister post to them. We will not give it to them. They might be anxious, but things will go on like this.”
Following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in alleged liquor scam linked money laundering case, Sunita has been holding digital briefings similar to the ones that used to done by him, prior to his being taken into custody.
Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi today said that the AAP chief, who has been sent by a Delhi to judicial custody till April 15 and lodged in Tihar Jail, has not been convicted in the case and will continue to remain in the post.
“There are two constitutional and legal provisions related to this in our country. Representation of the People Act says that if you have a conviction for more than two years, then you cannot remain a public representative. Arvind Kejriwal has not been convicted…Arvind Kejriwal enjoys overwhelming majority of the Delhi Assembly, so there is no reason for Arvind Kejriwal to resign. If Arvind Kejriwal resigns today then it will be a very simple and straightforward solution for the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the opposition governments,” Atishi said.
On Sunday, in her first appearance on a public platform since the arrest of her husband by the ED Sunita Kejriwal delivered the message by Arvind Kejriwal to the nation from ED custody. It consisted of six guarantees to the country, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, aimed at creating “a new India”.
On Sunday, in her first appearance on a public platform since the arrest of her husband by the ED Sunita Kejriwal delivered the message by Arvind Kejriwal to the nation from ED custody. It consisted of six guarantees to the country, on behalf of the INDIA bloc, aimed at creating “a new India”.
The case arose out of a report submitted by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena in July 2022, pointing to alleged procedural lapses in the formulation of the policy.
The report said “arbitrary and unilateral decisions” taken by Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his capacity as Excise Minister had resulted in “financial losses to the exchequer” estimated at more than Rs 580 crore.
This report was referred to the CBI and led to Sisodia’s arrest.
The ED alleged that the “scam” was to give the wholesale liquor business to private entities and fix a 12 per cent margin, for a 6 per cent kickback. In its first prosecution complaint in November 2021, the ED said the policy was “formulated with deliberate loopholes” that “promoted cartel formations through the back door” to benefit AAP leaders.
The ED also alleged that AAP leaders received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from a group of individuals identified as the “South Group”. (ANI)
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