October 5, 2023
In a significant development, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh arrested in a money laundering case linked to the liquor policy case, following a nine-hour-long interrogation at his residence. The arrest sent shockwaves in the political arena.
This is the third high-profile arrest in this case. Earlier AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair was arrested in September last year, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested in February this year. Both are still behind bars.
In the prosecution complaint filed by the ED in the case, Singh’s name appears in a statement by businessman Dinesh Arora, an accused. According to the complaint, he told the agency that he initially met Singh, through whom he eventually met Sisodia, at a party in a restaurant. The complaint, which is akin to a chargesheet, quotes Arora as saying that he spoke to many restaurant owners “on request of Mr Singh”, and “arranged cheques amounting to Rs 82 lakh (handed over to Mr Sisodia)” for collection of party funds.
In May, Singh had taken on the ED and sent a legal notice to agency officials for “maliciously” imputing his involvement in the case. The ED had said in a reply that out of the four references to him in a supplementary prosecution complaint filed by the agency, “a typographical/clerical error has inadvertently crept in” and he was named inadvertently, but only in one place.
Singh’s arrest came a day after a Delhi court allowed Raghav Magunta Reddy, son of YSR Congress Party MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, and businessman Dinesh Arora, both accused in the case, to turn approvers.
A video released by the AAP shows him taking blessings from his mother before his arrest by ED officials. He can be heard telling her mother,
“Chinta na karo, himmat rakhho, (Don’t worry, stay strong)”
The AAP also released a video recorded by Sanjay Singh before his arrest. “I have consistently been raising my voice against the corruption of the Narendra Modi government and Adani’s mega scam… there was no action on such complaints, but today the ED suddenly turned up at my door, conducting its investigation for hours. They found nothing, but despite this, I am being forcibly placed under arrest. But we are all soldiers of the Aam Aadmi Party and we want to tell Modi ji that you are losing the elections and that too spectacularly. This signals your disappointment, your defeat.” he said in that video.
Several allies of the Aam Aadmi Party in the opposition’s INDIA bloc, including the RJD, JDU, TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT) and PDP, also slammed the BJP government.
As the case unfolds, legal experts anticipate a rigorous legal battle. The evidence presented and the outcome of the trial will play a crucial role in determining the future of Sanjay Singh and the broader political landscape in Delhi.