Delhi Court directs Tihar officials to take Sanjay Singh to Parliament on March 19 for oath-taking as Rajya Sabha member

New Delhi [India], March 18 : The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi has directed the Tihar Jail Superintendent concerned to ensure Aam Aadmi Party Leader Sanjay Singh be taken to Parliament on March 19, 2024, under adequate security for the purpose of making and subscribing to an oath as a Member of Parliament (Rajyasabha).
Sanjay Singh is presently in judicial custody and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
The Special Judge MK Nagpal in an order passed on March 16, 2024 stated that during this visit, the accused, Sanjay Singh shall not be permitted to use any mobile phone and talk with any other accused, suspector witness of this case, as well as of the connected case of CBI, and he shall also not be permitted to address the press or hold any public meeting.
"However, he may be permitted to meet his counsel as well as his family members during the said visit," the Court stated .
The court earlier in February had also granted permission for the purpose but the oath could not be administered to him due to certain reasons
According to Enforcement Directorate, Sanjay Singh was then involved in acquiring, possessing, concealing, dissipating and using proceeds of crime generated from the Delhi Liquor Scam pertaining to the policy period of 2021-22.
In this case, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and the concerned court has sent her to custodial remand till March 23, 2024.
She was arrested by the ED team on Friday in Hyderabad and later brought to Delhi in the matter.
Kavitha was arrested after a day-long questioning followed by a raid at her Hyderabad residence.
ED has filed its first chargesheet in the case. The agency said it has so far undertaken nearly 200 search operations in this case after filing FIR taking cognisance of a CBI case which 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," officials said.
"The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection," the probe agencies said.
As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.
Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said and there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.