The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will file a charge sheet against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday in connection with its money laundering probe in alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, people familiar with the development told HT.
The Rajya Sabha leader, an official said, will be charged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as there is evidence of his involvement in the case.
Singh is currently lodged in Tihar jail after ED arrested him on October 4, alleging that he is a key conspirator in the Delhi excise policy. The anti-money laundering probe agency has accused him of receiving Rs.2 crore bribe through his aides from accused-turned-approver Dinesh Arora.
The AAP leader is under scanner not only in the excise policy 2021-22, in which both the agencies (ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation) are conducting parallel probes, but also in the 2020-21 policy, which is currently in operation in Delhi.
“A charge sheet will be filed most likely today within the stipulated 60-days’ time from the date of arrest,” said an officer, who did not want to be named. It will ensure that Singh doesn’t get “default bail”, this officer added.
Following his arrest, ED alleged that “Sanjay Singh is a key conspirator in the Delhi liquor scam. He is closely associated with a number of accused and suspects, including (businessmen) Dinesh Arora and Amit Arora. Singh has exploited and 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 conspiracy with others with respect to the excise policy 2020-21”.
ED has claimed that Singh had known Arora since 2017 and that the leader’s alleged associates and staff – Vivek Tyagi, Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra – had a close relationship with the businessman. Arora, according to ED, used to regularly visit the AAP leader’s house and introduced another businessman, Amit Arora, to Singh.
On the trail of kickbacks, ED has said “Dinesh Arora collected Rs.3 crore bribe from businessman Sameer Mahendru during August-October 2021, on the directions of former AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, since he facilitated the granting of Pernod Ricard’s wholesale business to Mahendru’s entity (Indospirits)”.
Of Rs.3 crore, Rs.1 crore was taken by Arora’s staff from the Indospirits office and was handed over to Sarvesh Mishra (Singh’s aide) at North Avenue, ED has alleged.
“After the money was handed over to Mishra, Arora called Singh and told him that money had been given to Mishra, to which Singh replied that he was aware and Nair had already called him,” ED said in its remand note after the arrest.
ED had added that Arora took Rs.4 crore from Abhishek Boinpally (who represented the so-called south group) in March-April 2022 on the instructions of Nair for the “party fund.”
“Of this Rs.4 crore, Rs.2 crore was collected by Harinder Narula from Boinpally’s office in Defence Colony and, Rs.1 crore cash was given to Mishra through Arora’s staff. Thereafter, Arora spoke to Mishra on the phone and told this to Nair,” the ED added.
The excise policy 2021-22, in which former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was also arrested by the CBI in February, was rolled out in November 2021, marking the exit of the government from retail sales of alcohol and allowing private companies to bid for licenses.
But the policy was scrapped when Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena asked for an investigation, citing a report by the chief secretary who alleged irregularities. The AAP and the Capital’s elected government have rejected the charges, alleging it to be a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government to target their rivals.
The agency alleged that the money was paid to the AAP leaders by a so-called south group that was awarded nine retail zones in Delhi.
The group comprises YSR Congress parliamentarian Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (or MSR), his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), and K Kavitha (daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao) and businessman Sameer Mahendru, according to the ED.
