On April 2, the Supreme Court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh in the Delhi liquor policy case after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said his custody was no longer required.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prasanna B Varale issued the bail order.
The apex court said, “We direct that Sanjay Singh be released on bail on terms and conditions fixed by the trial court. We clarify that the concession given today will not be treated as a precedence. He will be allowed to continue with his political activities.”
Supreme Court asked the Enforcement Directorate regarding the necessity for extended custody of Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh, who stands accused in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
The bench, comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Dipankar Datta, and Justice P B Varale, directed Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, to seek instructions and provide an update during the post-lunch session of the court on whether further detention of Singh was deemed essential. The bench also noted that Singh had already spent six months in jail.
The bench informed Raju that no funds had been found in Singh’s possession, and the accusation of him accepting a Rs 2 crore bribe could be examined during the trial. The additional solicitor general stated he would address Singh’s arguments against his arrest and detention during the post-lunch session.
Singh was apprehended by the ED in the case on October 4 last year.
In the high court, Singh had petitioned for bail, citing his prolonged detention of over three months and the absence of any implication in the underlying offence.
Opposing the bail request, the investigative agency contended in the high court that Singh was implicated in the acquisition, possession, concealment, dissipation, and utilisation of proceeds from the crime related to the Delhi liquor scam for the policy period of 2021-22.
The case against Singh and other AAP leaders started with a complaint in 2022 from Delhi’s Lieutenant General, VK Saxena. He said there were problems with how the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22 was made.
The complaint claimed that leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), like former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and some private people or groups, planned together when making the policy.
They allegedly made the policy with intentional gaps or mistakes to help certain liquor companies, sellers, and buyers after the bidding process.
Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha were arrested because of this case.
Sisodia and AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair were also arrested by the ED. Right now, they are all in jail.
