New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) A Delhi court on Saturday granted permission to AAP MP Sanjay Singh, arrested and charge-sheeted in the excise policy money laundering case, to take his oath as Rajya Sabha MP on February 5, while in custody.

On Thursday, the court had issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Singh's application seeking interim bail from February 4 to 10 to attend the ongoing Parliament session.

Special judge M. K. Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Court also extended till February 17 the judicial custody of former Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Singh, who appeared physically before the court.

The judge allowed Singh's request to take the oath in judicial custody, withdrawing his above-mentioned application for interim bail.

Singh cited a court appearance in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on February 7 as the reason for his request.

Advocates Rajat Bhardwaj, Farrukh Khan, and Prakash Priydarshi represented Singh during the proceedings.

Additionally, during the hearing, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, counsel for Amandeep Singh Dhall, raised concerns about CCTV footage without audio in the case and requested footage with audio.

Advocate Rajat Bhardwaj also submitted an application seeking the supply of statements recorded before the court, including those of Raghav Magunta and P Sharat Reddy, who were given a pardon.

The court noted other pending applications, including one seeking CCTV footage and another seeking records of emails written by accused Dhall to ED. These applications will be addressed in the next hearing.

The Delhi High Court had on Wednesday reserved its judgment on Singh's bail plea.

Singh had moved the High Court seeking bail on January 4 after Special Judge Nagpal dismissed his plea on December 22 .

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma reserved the order after hearing arguments from both the sides.

The ED on Tuesday had claimed before the court that Singh was involved in creating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) Aralias Hospitality Pvt Ltd to launder "proceeds of crime" linked to the alleged liquor scam, a result of changes in the excise policy.

In an affidavit, it alleged Singh's involvement in acquiring, concealing, and using proceeds of crime, and that he worked closely with individuals like Dinesh Arora and Amit Arora.

The ED further claimed that Singh received illegal money or kickbacks from the alleged excise policy (2021-22) scam and participated in a conspiracy.

Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, representing Singh, argued that his client has been in custody for three months without a clear attribution of a role in the predicate offence.

Singh's arrest, according to Mathur, relied on the statement of the ED's "star witness".

Justice Sharma had earlier issued notice to the probe agency on Singh's bail plea.

Denying him bail, the judge had said that the evidence demonstrated the accused's involvement in money laundering and that there were reasonable grounds to believe in the guilt based on the connection to proceeds of crime from scheduled offences investigated by the CBI.

The court also said that observations on the interpretation of Section 45 and 50 of the PMLA, made during the dismissal of bail applications for various accused, remained unaltered, and that reliance on a Supreme Court order granting bail to another accused in the case didn't provide contrary observations or establish parity.

It had also dismissed the argument regarding the absence of recovery during proceedings, stating that it is not always necessary.

Addressing the lack of documentary evidence connecting the accused to alleged proceeds of crime, the court rejected the notion, citing the nature of cash transactions.

Dismissing the claim of approver coercion, the judge found no evidence of influence and affirmed the relevance of evidence collected by the ED while noting the accused's alleged role in influencing the excise policy and attempted creation of a partnership involving a dummy associate to generate proceeds of crime.

Statements of approver Dinesh Arora, accused Amit Arora, and witness Ankit Gupta were cited in relation to this aspect, revealing attempts to incorporate the applicant's personal assistant into the entity.

Singh's counsel had earlier noted that Singh was neither an accused, and was never arrested, or charge sheeted in the predicate offence (the alleged corruption in the excise scam) being probed by the CBI, and that he was not even summoned by the CBI in the corruption case.

His name did not appear in any of the supplementary charge sheets filed by the ED before his arrest. The financial probe agency arrested Singh on October 4, 2023 after carrying out searches at his residence in the North Avenue area.

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday extended, till December 21m the judicial custody of AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh in alleged excise policy scam case.

The Rouse Avenue Court has also listed hearing on Singh's bail application for hearing on Tuesday. During the hearing, the court also granted permission to Singh to appear before the Parliament’s Privilege committee to file his submissions in a 'breach of privilege' matter.

Singh had to appear before the committee on October 5, however he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 4 in connection with its probe into the now scrapped excise policy case following day-long searches at his residence here.

On December 9, the ED strongly opposed the bail plea of Singh, arguing that the documents recovered from Singh were not part of the judicial record, highlighting his perceived influence.

Special Judge M.K. Nagpal had then adjourned the hearing till Monday, where the defence counsel were to present their counterarguments.

Advocates Zoheb Hossain and Naveen Kumar Matta represented the ED during the proceedings.

In response, Sanjay Singh, through his legal representatives, appealed to the court for his release, asserting that the investigation against him had already concluded. His defence emphasised that Singh's continued detention served no purpose, especially considering the filing of a charge sheet by the ED, signalling the end of their inquiry.

The defence argued that further custodial interrogation was unnecessary, as Singh's detention lacked justification. However, the ED countered it, asserting that the investigation was still ongoing. It also expressed apprehension that granting bail to Singh might impede the ongoing probe, potentially leading to tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses.

According to ED sources, the financial probe agency filed a 60-page charge sheet, alleging that Singh was involved in conspiracy, money laundering and helping the accused. The ED has also named one more person as accused in the chargesheet, however, they have not revealed the name so far.

Singh’s arrest was the second big arrest in the case after former Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.

The ED had also arrested AAP communication incharge Vijay Nair in the case. The liquor scam case pertains to allegations that the AAP-led Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it. The AAP has strongly refuted the charge and accused the BJP government at centre of indulging in political vendetta.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday questioned Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh as to why he has not yet filed a bail plea while hearing his petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and subsequent remand in alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.

The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.N.V. Bhatti issued notices and sought a response of the Centre and ED on the plea filed by Singh challenging his arrest and remand by the probe agency in the money-laundering case.

The Centre and the ED have to file a response in the matter before December 11.

While hearing the petitions, the bench asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Singh, as to why he has not yet applied for regular bail plea yet.

"Why are you shying away from that? We will say notice but you file (regular bail plea)," Justice Khanna remarked.

The court gave liberty to Singh to file for a regular bail application before the concerned jurisdictional court.

On November 3, Singh who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, moved the apex court against the Delhi High Court order that upheld his arrest and remand by the ED in the liqour policy scam.

On October 20, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Singh’s plea while upholding his arrest and remand by the ED in the money laundering case registered by the agency in its ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy.

On October 13, Special Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court had sent Singh to a 14-day judicial custody in the case.

Singh has challenged his arrest by and remand to the ED saying that the grounds of arrest were not given to him by the financial probe agency.

On October 10, the ED had sought his further custody from Judge Nagpal on the grounds that his behaviour was totally non-cooperative with regard to the source of acquisition of some confidential documents of the agency pertaining to this case.

The other grounds on which the ED sought Singh’s custody were that he refused to acknowledge or sign the Call Detail Record (CDR) of his mobile number in respect to the calls appearing between the said number and the number of co-accused, Amit Arora.

It was further submitted that the digital data of around 200 GB has been recovered during the course of the fresh search and the same is yet to be analysed and the task of confrontation of the accused with the said digital data is not completed.

The financial probe agency on October 4 arrested Singh after carrying out searches at his residence in the North Avenue area.

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) In a massive blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested its Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh in connection with its probe into the money laundering case in connection with the now scrapped Delhi excise policy, officials said.

A top ED official told IANS that Singh has been put under arrest under the sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) but did not share more details.

The arrest comes after the financial probe agency sleuths on Wednesday carried out searches at his residence in North Avenue area since morning.

Singh is the second top leader of the AAP to be arrested in the alleged liquor scam case after former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI in February this year and by the ED in March.

The ED has filed four charge sheets in the case and has also mentioned the name of Singh in it. The ED’s money laundering case is based on the CBI FIR filed last year in August on the complaint of alleged irregularities in the excise policy case.

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided the residence of AAP MP Sanjay Singh for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor scam.

An ED team reached the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's residence at 7 a.m. and launched a raid and search operation.

Raids were on at the time of filing of report.

The ED case is based on an FIR (First Information Report) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

As of now, the ED has filed four charge sheets and is further investigating the matter.

According to sources, Singh's name appeared four times in the charge sheet, out of which one was by mistake. While typing, Delhi's excise commissioner Rahul Singh's name was mistakenly typed as Sanjay Singh.

Notably, the searches precedes former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's bail hearing at the Supreme Court later in the day.

In addition to Singh's residence, the ED sleuths are also carrying out searches at the premises of other people linked to the case.

New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday met AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon Session for 'unruly behaviour' in Parliament and told him "you have our full support".

According to party sources, Sonia Gandhi after arriving in Parliament met Singh, who has been sitting in protest in the Parliament campus near the Mahatma Gandhi statue for the last two days.

The source said that during the meeting, Sonia Gandhi told Singh that he has their full support.

Singh was suspended on Monday for the remainder of the Monsoon Session as he entered into the Well of the House and was demanding for a detailed discussion on Manipur violence.

Since Monday, he has been sitting in protest against his suspension in the Parliament premises. Several Opposition MPs of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have been participating in the protest with Singh during the day and night.

The Opposition MPs have been demanding for a detailed discussion on Manipur violence in both the Houses of Parliament and have also been demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue in Parliament.

New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was suspended for the remaining Parliament's Monsoon Session for unruly behaviour on the Manipur violence issue, continued his sit-in protest on Tuesday also.

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh was on Monday suspended for remaining of the Monsoon Session of Parliament for his "unruly behaviour" while protesting over the Centre's response on the Manipur violence.

After the House met on Monday afternoon, the Opposition MPs started demanding for a detailed discussion on the issue by suspending the Question Hour Session.

However, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar initiated the proceedings of the House and when only three to four questions were taken, the AAP MP went near the Well and started raising slogans demanding for a detailed discussion.

Leader of the House Piyush Goyal then moved the motion to suspend him, which was adopted by the House by voice vote.

Before the motion was moved, Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankhar named Singh for his "unruly behaviour" and cautioned him.

Despite that, the AAP RS MP continued to raise slogans and did not return to his seat.

When the House met on Monday morning, the opposition MPs raised slogans demanding a discussion on the Manipur issue, following whichit was suspended till 12 noon.