Supreme Court grants bail to Sanjay Singh in excise policy case as ED concedes.
Sanjay Singh was arrested in the case by the ED on October 4 last year
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh in the Delhi liquor policy case, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chose to make a tactical withdrawal rather than risk an order from the top court order which may affect the trial later on.
After a half day’s hearing, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, told a three-judge Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna that the Central agency had decided to concede in favour of granting bail to the Rajya Sabha MP, whose custody was no longer necessary.
Justice Khanna pointed that “Sanjay Singh has been in custody for six months. We need to know if further custody is required or not.” The Bench, also comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and P.B. Varale, told the ED.
Justice Datta said that the mandate of Section 45 necessitated a court to be prima facie satisfied that the accused has not committed the crime before granting bail.
The ED arrested Sanjay Singh on October 4, last year, alleging that he was involved in acquiring, processing, concealing, dissipating, and using proceeds of crime generated from the excise policy between 2021 and 2022. In that time frame, he had received illegal funds to the tune of Rs. 2 crore as the proceeds of crime, the agency alleged, terming him as a key conspirator in its affidavit.
Singh had appealed to the Supreme Court for bail after both the trial court, in December, and the Delhi High Court had rejected his plea for personal liberty.
The grant of bail has proved a big relief for the AAP ahead of the Lok Sabha election after the ED upped the ante recently to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case. Former AAP Ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain also continue to be behind bars in the same case.
