NB Explains | ED raids another AAP leader: Why Sanjay Singh is significant?

New Delhi, Oct 4: In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at AAP MP Sanjay Singh's residence in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, a day after a court allowed two accused in the case to turn approver.

 

 

Singh, according to investigating agencies, was close to Dinesh Arora and had introduced him to former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. Arora, an accused in the excise policy case, had earlier turned approver in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case as well. On Tuesday, a Delhi court allowed him and Raghav Magunta Reddy, the son of a YSR Congress Party MP, to become approvers in the money laundering case being investigated by the ED.

 

 

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

 

“Since Sanjay Singh was continuously raising questions on the issue of PM Modi and Adani, this is the reason why raids are being conducted at his residence. Nothing was found earlier, nothing will be found today,” AAP spokesperson Reena Gupta said.

 

In May this year, the homes and offices of two of Singh’s closest associates — Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra — were raided by the ED in relation to the ongoing excise policy case.

 

 

Singh, a social activist with roots in Uttar Pradesh, joined the 2011 Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement in Delhi and was among the few leaders to be present on stage at Ramlila Maidan as the protest marched on. When the AAP was formed in November 2012, Singh was among the core members.

 

The most vocal Rajya Sabha member from AAP between 2018 and 2022, Singh is seen as the party’s link with Opposition parties.

 

Singh is a member of AAP’s political affairs committee as well as the national executive. He is also the national spokesperson and the in-charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

 

Singh has been a constant presence next to party chief Kejriwal since before the AAP came into being in 2012. But more so after former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI and ED in the Delhi excise policy case.