Delhi Liquorgate: ED arrests AAP MP Sanjay Singh

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh was arrested on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged corruption in 2021-22 Delhi excise policy, the second high-profile leader nabbed in this case.

Early in the day, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials swooped on his official residence in North Avenue and conducting searches. After day-long questioning, Singh was placed under arrest under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Singh is expected to be produced before a local court on Thursday where the ED will seek for his custodial interrogation. The developments led to a political slugfest between AAP and BJP with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal terming it as a desperate measure for the BJP as it stares a defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP hit back at Kejriwal accusing him of being the "kingpin" of the alleged liquor policy scam and saying that "handcuffs" are not far away. The search and subsequent arrest of Singh comes a day after a Delhi court allowed Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, and Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Arora to turn approver in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The anti-money laundering agency had arrested Arora in July, when he was already declared an approver in a related corruption case being probed by CBI. Arora was arrested after he allegedly gave evasive replies during his questioning by the ED and was not cooperating with the investigation. The businessman was allegedly a close associate of former deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

The ED, in a supplementary charge sheet, has accused Sisodia of receiving bribes from Amit Arora, another businessman and an accused in the case, through Dinesh Arora. The federal probe agency has described this bribe as "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"Amit Arora paid Rs 2.2 crore to Manish Sisodia through Dinesh Arora for getting policy changes in his favour in the GoM report/excise policy 2021-22... This amount is directly a bribe/kickback to a government functionary and is proceeds of crime under section 2(1)(u) of PMLA, 2002. In this manner, Manish Sisodia participated in the generation of this proceeds of crime," the ED said in its prosecution complaint filed in May.

It was a rare instance of an accused-turned-approver (prosecution witness) in the CBI investigation getting arrested by the ED while the two federal agencies probed the same crime.