NEW DELHI: A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the Delhi excise policy case, a Delhi court Thursday sent senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh to ED custody for five days.
Special Judge MK Nagpal remanded Singh in ED custody till October 10 to enable the federal probe agency to interrogate him.
The AAP Rajya Sabha MP will be produced before the court on expiry of his custody.
'An act of injustice'
While being brought to the courtroom, Singh said his arrest was "an act of injustice" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose party was "going to lose the next Lok Sabha elections".
Singh was arrested by the ED on Wednesday in connection with its money laundering probe linked to the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case, in a huge blow to the city's ruling AAP.
"This is Modiji's injustice. He will lose the election; he is losing the election," he told journalists.
Later, when the court asked him whether he wanted to say something, Singh claimed he was being treated unfairly.
"Sir, Amit Arora gave tens of statements, Dinesh Arora gave several statements, but they did not remember my name. I'm not that unknown that they forgot my name. Now they have suddenly remembered… There's no separate law. I was not summoned even once. Why different law for me?" the AAP leader said rebutting the ED's claim he received Rs 2 crore from Dinesh Arora, a businessman accused in the case who has now turned an approver.
During the hearing, the ED sought Singh's custody saying several people were yet to be examined and confronted with him.
The agency said it also wanted to confront Singh with data extracted from his phone.
The ED alleged Singh received Rs 3 crore in two tranches.
"The money was delivered to his residence. Dinesh Arora cross-checked with him also and he confirmed it… Investigation has revealed that two crore cash was given. A total of three crore money was given," the ED said.
When the agency said it wanted to confront Singh with digital evidence extracted from his mobile phone, the court told its counsel it can be done even without taking him into custody.
"Why do you want to confront him with the phone? You can extract the data even otherwise," the judge said.
Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, representing Singh, opposed the ED's application seeking his remand, saying the agency's witness Dinesh Arora was not trustworthy.
"He was an accused first, then in a quid pro quo he turned witness. His stand is changing. He is an accused, turns approver, gives statement; the statement is not favorable to ED, ED arrests him and he turns approver in ED case. He changes statement and ED arrested me on that statement," Singh's counsel said.
He accused the ED of humiliating Singh by arresting him.
"There are separate agenda. DA (Dinesh Arora) is in their hands for the last one and a half years. The statement was given earlier. Why is it being brought up now? Once you had the statement (of Arora), you did not call me for an explanation. You want to humiliate me by arresting me," Mathur said.
AAP dares BJP
The AAP on Thursday accused the Centre of trying to silence its MP Sanjay Singh by arresting him and challenged the BJP-led Union government to make public any evidence they have against him.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader Atishi claimed that over 500 officers of the ED and CBI conducted raids at several places linked to the AAP leaders in the last 15 months but "haven't found a single evidence" against them.
"They raided Manish Sisodia's residence, offices and several other places but they couldn't find evidence of corruption of even a single penny. And now, Sanjay Singh has been targeted," she said.
"The ED officers raided every inch of Sanjay Singh's residence but couldn't find anything. They arrested him because he constantly raised issues of the Centre's corruption," she added.
Atishi said that if there is any evidence against Singh, the Centre "should make it public."
"I want to challenge the BJP that if they have found any evidence against Sanjay Singh, they should make it public or they should quit politics. They can send their officers anywhere where Sanjay Singh has been and I can vouch they will not find anything against him," she claimed.
"We all know that whenever someone raises their voice against the government, there will be attempts to silence them. Since they couldn't silence him, they arrested him. The BJP should know that AAP is not going to get scared of their arrest threats," she said.
The arrest of the 51-year-old Singh, who became the second high profile leader of the Aam Aadmi Party to be nabbed in the case relating to the now scrapped Excise policy after former deputy chief minister Sisodia, has sparked a political slugfest between the Arvind Kejriwal-led party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Another AAP leader, Gopal Rai, at the press conference said, "We went to Sanjay Singh's residence and his family told us that the ED didn't find anything against him, yet he was arrested. Until evening, the ED kept reiterating that it was just a part of the investigation process. But suddenly there were instructions from the higher authorities to arrest him."
Rai too alleged that the BJP is "misusing" the central agencies like CBI and ED.
"The Centre is misusing ED and CBI by taking action against those who dare to speak up against rising inflation, poverty, and unemployment in the country. Even if the Central Government arrests all the leaders of the AAP, we won't bow down. We've been raising our voice for the country, its constitution and democracy and will continue to do so," he said.
Delhi minister Satyendar Jain was arrested by the ED on May 30, 2022 in a separate money laundering case.
Rai, the environment minister in the Delhi government, alleged that the central agency arrested Singh without any evidence against him.
AAP leader and MLA Dilip Pandey called the ED and CBI "campaigners" roped in by the BJP ahead of the general election.
"The whole country is watching, the BJP has launched its two-star campaigners, ED and CBI for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the AAP is raising its voice against the despotic rule of the central government, 40 raids have been conducted on opposition leaders by the ED at different locations across the country," Pandey said.
"In the last 4 days, media and journalists have been attacked, who refused to collude with the central government. A TMC MP was brutally dragged from a Union Minister's office and the next day, Sanjay Singh was arrested. This is an undeclared state of emergency," he alleged, referring to MP Mahua Moitra, who was carried off by female police constables from Krishi Bhavan after she was denied a meet by a BJP minister.
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that more opposition leaders will be "targeted and arrested" in the future.
"BJP can understand that they will be defeated in the upcoming elections and hence, they are getting opposition leaders arrested. Many other opposition leaders will be arrested in future also," Bharadwaj alleged.
AAP protest
AAP workers on Thursday held a massive protest outside their Rouse Avenue Road office, clogging the entire stretch for hours, for the release of their leader Sanjay Singh who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the excise policy case.
The protesters met with police barricades as they marched towards the BJP headquarters with banners, raising slogans against the party at helm at the Centre.
The entire area witnessed beefed up security with barricades set up at several points across the road that leads up to the grand BJP office.
Special commissioner of police (Law and Order) Dependra Pathak said they made adequate arrangements to contain the protesters.
"We have made proper arrangements and there are enough police personnel. We do not want law and order to deteriorate at any cost. We have been constantly communicating with the cadre (of AAP)," he said.
The AAP accused the Centre of trying to silence its MP Sanjay Singh by arresting him, and challenged the Union government led by it to make public any evidence they have against him.
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