On 5th February, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar refused to allow jailed Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh to take oath as a Member of Parliament. Chairman Dhankar said the matter is currently with the Privileges Committee. Singh was arrested and charge-sheeted in the Delhi Excise Policy money laundering case.
Earlier on 3rd February, Rouse Avenue court allowed him to take oath as Rajya Sabha MP while in custody. Singh is in judicial custody, which was extended till 17th February. Special Justice MK Nagpal allowed his request to be taken while he was in custody. Singh withdrew the plea and sought interim bail to attend the ongoing Parliament session and to take the oath. Furthermore, he must appear before a court in Sultanput, Uttar Pradesh, on 7th February.
Though Singh was granted permission to file his election nomination and collect his membership certificate from the returning officer, the court dismissed his regular bail on 22nd December 2023. His bail plea is pending at Delhi High Court.
His plea was heard by the bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma, who reserved the order after hearing arguments from both sides. While Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur represented Singh, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appeared for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case.
ED opposed the bail plea filed by Sanjay Singh in its reply and said he was involved in creating a particular purpose vehicle to launder the proceeds of crime that would have been generated from the business arising out of the policy changes as conspired by him and his co-conspirators.
ED added that he was then involved in acquiring, possessing, concealing, dissipating and using proceeds of crime generated from the Delhi Liquor Scam during the policy period of 2021-22. ED arrested Singh on 4th October 2023.
Sanjay Singh was selected as Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi in January 2018. In January 2024, he completed his 6-year tenure as Rajya Sabha MP and was sent to Rajya Sabha again from Delhi. As per the regulations, he was scheduled to re-take the oath for his second tenure as Rajya Sabha MP. However, due to his alleged involvement and arrest in Excise Duty Scam, Singh was not allowed to take oath.
Delhi Excise Policy Scam
ED filed its first chargesheet in the case in 2022. The agency said it has so far undertaken over 200 search operations in this case after filing an FIR after taking cognisance of a CBI case that was registered on the recommendation of the Delhi lieutenant governor. The CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) 1993, Delhi Excise Act 2009, and Delhi Excise Rules 2010.
The liquor policy for 2021-22 was put into effect by the Delhi administration on 17th November 2021. However, it was canceled at the end of September 2022 due to accusations of corruption. According to the agencies, the new regulation led to monopolisation and gave economic advantages to people who weren’t eligible for liquor licenses. Meanwhile, Manish Sisodia and the Delhi administration have denied any wrongdoing.
According to the ED, the now-scrapped excise regime extended an incredibly high 12% profit margin for wholesalers and nearly 185% profit margin for retailers. Further, favors were extended through cartelisation.
(With inputs from ANI)
