Delhi excise police case: HC to pass judgement on AAP leader Sanjay Singh's bail plea tomorrow

New Delhi [India], February 6 : The Delhi High Court is scheduled to pass judgment on Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh's regular bail petition tomorrow in the Delhi excise policy case.
The AAP's Rajya Sabha MP was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on October 4, 2023, in the case.
The bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma, which reserved its judgement last week, will pass the order on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Mohit Mathur appeared for Sanjay Singh while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appeared for the Enforcement Directorate in the matter.
Opposing the bail petition, the ED has said that Sanjay Singh was involved in creating a special purpose vehicle to launder the proceeds of crime that would have been generated from the business arising out of the excise policy changes as conspired by him and his co-conspirators.
Sanjay Singh 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, said ED.
ED also stated that Sanjay Singh has been in possession of certain confidential documents about the investigation of this case which are not in the public domain. During the search conducted at the premises of the accused Singh on October 4, 2023, certain confidential documents which are prints of images taken in the office of ED and the same were obtained illegally.
Sanjay Singh is one of the key conspirators in the Delhi liquor scam. He is closely associated with a number of accused/suspects in this case. Singh has gained illegal money/kickbacks which are proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy (2021-22) scam. Further, he has also played a role in a conspiracy with others in respect of Excise Policy 2020-21, said ED.
Sanjay Singh through plea stated that he is neither an accused nor a suspect in a scheduled/predicate offence (CBI Offence), wherein, the investigation has been continuing since August 17, 2022, and despite three charge-sheets/ supplementary charge-sheets having been filed, absolutely nothing has been surfaced against him till date.
Bail Plea further stated that at the outset, the applicant states that the applicant is not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing or any violation of the provisions of the PMLA in any manner whatsoever and therefore, the applicant's life and liberty must be protected from unwarranted and unjustified encroachment at the hands of the DoE on the basis of a false, malicious and motivated case without any merit.
On December 22, 2023, the trial court had dismissed his bail and said, "The court is of prima facie view that the case against him is genuine. Evidence shows his involvement in alleged offence of money laundering. There is reasonable grounds for believing that he is guilty of the alleged offence of money laundering."
Trial Court Judge expressed his prima facie view and said, "The evidence and material shows involvement of applicant in commission of the alleged offence of money laundering because he is shown to have been, directly or indirectly, involved in the process or activities connected with proceeds of crime generated through the scheduled offences case of CBI."
The trial court further had said, "The evidence and material is also sufficient to furnish this court reasonable grounds for believing that he is 'guilty' of the said offence in terms of provisions contained Under section 45 of the PMLA. It can be said that the conditions laid down by the section 45 for grant of bail are not satisfied.