Sanjay Singh moves Delhi High Court challenging arrest, remand by ED in Delhi Excise scam case

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh moved the Delhi High Court on Friday challenging his arrest and remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case. .The matter was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula by Singh's counsel who argued that the AAP leader was not served the grounds of his arrest properly. .The Court, in turn, assured that the matter would be listed today..The development comes days after a trial court extended the ED's custody of Singh by three days on October 10. After the extension, the ED custody was slated to end today. .The ED has alleged that Singh played a key role in framing and implementing a now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy which was allegedly aimed at benefiting certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, was arrested by the ED on October 4 following the Central agency's search at his residence. On October 5, he was initially remanded to ED custody till October 10 which was later extended till October 13. .Singh's arrest marked the third high-profile arrest of an AAP leader in the excise policy case.AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair was arrested in September 2022. Later, former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi and AAP leader, Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 2023. Both the leaders are still behind bars.Sanjay Singh's arrest came after the Court allowed businessmen Dinesh Arora and Raghav Magunta Reddy to become approvers in the case. Both Arora and Reddy were also accused in the case.Dinesh Arora is said to have told the ED that he met Singh who introduced him to Manish Sisodia. The ED further quoted Arora as saying that he spoke to many restaurant owners at the request of Singh and arranged cheques amounting to ₹82 lakh which was handed over to Sisodia for the collection of party funds.The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered cases in relation to the alleged excise policy scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary.