The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to a bail plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh in connection with his arrest in the Delhi excise policy scam case [Sanjay Singh vs Union of India and anr].A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice today, after briefly hearing Singh's counsel, Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi.Sanjay Singh was arrested by the ED on October 4, 2023, in a money laundering case citing his alleged role in framing and implementing the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, which was allegedly aimed at benefiting certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.The AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP moved a bail plea before the top court after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail application on February 9. This was after a trial court had rejected his bail plea on December 22.The bail plea will now be considered by the Supreme Court on March 5, along with Singh's petition challenging his arrest and remand.The petition challenging Singh's arrest and remand was earlier rejected by the Delhi High Court in October 2023, which had also observed that imputing political motives to the ED may have an impact on the image of the country.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 November 2022 while former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 2023.
TAGS: Supreme Court Enforcement Directorate bail plea Aam Aadmi Party AAP leader Sanjay Singh Delhi excise policy scam case
