Bansuri Swaraj's name on ED lawyer's list mistake, Supreme Court told amid fresh row

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj asked why Bansuri Swaraj's name was there on the ED lawyer's list. It was a mistake, ED's lawyers told the Supreme Court.

Updated on: Apr 3, 2024, 11:31:36 IST

By HT News Desk

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A day after Sanjay Singh got bail in the excise case, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked why BJP's Delhi candidate for the Lok Sabha election 2024 Bansuri Swaraj's name was there on the list of ED lawyers as mentioned in the paper of the Sanjay Singh case. ED counsel advocate Zoheb Hossain, as reported by Bar & Bench, mentioned before the the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it was an inadvertent mistake. Delhi BJP candidate Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, did not appear for the central agency.

ED lawyer told Supreme Court on Wednesday that Bansuri Swaraj's name appeared on the list by mistake.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sanjay Singh as the ED did not oppose his bail plea. The top court said Sanjay Singh will be released on terms and conditions to be fixed by the trial court and his bail would not be cited as a precedent. A fresh row erupted after Bharadwaj asked why Bansuri Swaraj's name was mentioned as an ED lawyer in the case. Bharadwaj also shared a screenshot of the paper in which Bansuri's name was there along with Suryaprakash V Raju, Mukeh Kumar Maroria, Zoheb Hossan, Annam Venkatesh, Kanu Agarwal and Arkaj Kumar as ED lawyers.

"I have seen that Bansuri Swaraj's name is mentioned as ED lawyer. Bansuri Swaraj is a BJP spokesperson and also a candidate for the Lok Sabha election. So your people are fighting for the ED," Bharadwaj said.

Sanjay Singh's bail in the case in which Manish Sisodia and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal are in jail came as a big relief to the Aam Aadmi Party amid the ongoing crisis. The BJP said the bail proved the independence of the judiciary. "He got bail and the ED did not oppose it. This shows the independence of our judiciary...This is the speciality of our democracy. The courts are independent," Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Saurabh Bharadwaj countered the BJP's argument and said the Supreme Court warned the ED that if they opposed the bail, the top court would give a verdict on the case. "The top court told the ED that facts are against you because you have not presented any evidence against Sanjay Singh," Bharadwaj said.

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