Singh sent to custody till Oct 27, moves HC

Delhi court sends AAP MP Sanjay Singh to judicial custody till October 27 in money laundering case. Singh moves Delhi high court to challenge arrest by ED.

A Delhi court on Friday sent Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha member from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP, to judicial custody till October 27 in the money laundering case related to the investigation into the Delhi excise policy.

Sanjay Singh was arrested by the probe agency on October 4 in Delhi excise policy case (PTI)

The parliamentarian also moved the Delhi high court on Friday, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma sought the probe agency’s response by October 17, hours after the special court remanded Singh in 14-day judicial custody.

Singh was arrested by the probe agency on October 4, following a day-long interrogation by the ED officials at his Delhi residence for allegedly playing a key role in procuring favours for himself and certain businessmen through his aides by influencing the policy.

Singh has denied the charges, saying they are “false and baseless” and alleged a political witch-hunt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While extending his ED remand for three days, special judge MK Nagpal directed the Investigating Officer (IO) on October 10 to analyse all digital data without any delay and also complete the interrogation and confrontation of the accused as well as examination of relevant witnesses.

During the brief hearing, the judge also directed Singh not to give any speech about unrelated matters inside the court.

In the high court, Singh’s plea was mentioned before the bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Sanjeev Narula. Urging the court to list the plea on Friday, Singh appearing through advocate Rajat Bhardwaj said that the MP was not provided with the grounds of arrest. Considering the counsel’s submissions, the bench agreed to hear the matter the same day.

During the hearing, Singh’s counsel, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, submitted before the court that ED’s entire case against Singh was based on the statement of co-accused Dinesh Arora, who has turned an approver.

AAP workers and supporters on Friday protested near the BJP headquarters against Singh’s arrest. The AAP leaders said the case against Sanjay Singh is fake and accused the central government of misusing investigating agencies to target opposition leaders.

Delhi minister Gopal Rai said country was facing the problem of unemployment, but instead of providing jobs to people the Modi government was focused on putting opposition leaders in jail.