In yet another setback to the Aam Aadmi Party, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested its Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy.
The arrest comes after the agency conducted hours-long raids at the residences of Singh and a few others allegedly linked to the case, and questioned the staff members of the AAP leader.
Party workers and Singh’s supporters staged a protest outside Singh’s residence, raising slogans against the central government.
Notably, Singh is the third prominent AAP leader to be arrested by a central agency. Earlier, the ED had arrested Health Minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case in May last year and the CBI arrested Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy scam in February this year.
While Sisodia is lodged in Tihar jail, Jain is currently out on bail on medical grounds.
The case against Singh pertains to allegations that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders had favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it.
The AAP has rejected the allegations, but the policy was subsequently scrapped.
The ED in its charge-sheet claimed that Singh had requested Dinesh Arora, a middleman, to ask restaurant owners to generate funds for the AAP for the Delhi assembly elections in 2020.
Dinesh had claimed that he had met Singh during a party in his restaurant Unplugged Courtyard, as per the ED charge-sheet.
He also reportedly said in his statement to the agency that Singh had helped another accused, Amit Arora, to shift his liquor shop from Okhla to Pitampura.
The charge-sheet further quoted Dinesh as saying that he had met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once at his residence and that he had spoken to Sisodia five-six times.
‘Last desperate attempt’
The AAP reacted sharply to the raids at Singh’s residence and his subsequent arrest, with Chief Minister Kejriwal terming it as the “last desperate attempt” of the BJP which is staring at a defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"The BJP is rattled. They believe that they're going to face massive defeat in the national elections of 2024. These are the last desperate attempts of a losing party. Yesterday it happened with many journalists, now it's happening with Sanjay Singh, and as elections come closer it'll happen to many," he claimed.
The AAP supremo said all the central probe agencies will become active as the elections come closer and many such raids will happen.
“But there is no need to be scared," he added.
Another party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj called Singh’s arrest a demonstration of the BJP's desperation and fear of loss ahead of the upcoming elections.
"Sanjay Singh was arrested without a shred of evidence or reason. This is nothing but an act of desperation. It only goes to show that Prime Minister Modi knows that he is losing the upcoming elections. It is the BJP's desperation and fear of loss that are prompting it to unleash the central agencies on Opposition leaders," Bhardwaj said.
Delhi Congress President Arvinder S. Lovely said his party doesn't support any type of irregularities and that action should be taken against those found guilty in liquor policy case.
“If any person is found involved then the person should be arrested. But if a person is being arrested on the basis that he/she is not cooperating in the investigation, then it is a misuse of the agencies. Investigative agencies cannot be used to fulfil political agendas,” Lovely said.