Sanjay Singh, member of parliament for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to overturn a local court’s ruling to deny his request for bail in a money laundering case that was brought up in relation to the now-canceled Delhi excise policy. The petition was filed last month.
Sanjay Singh, 51, was detained on October 4 in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after it was claimed that he was instrumental in influencing the excise policy to obtain favors for himself and certain businessmen through his associates.
Sanjay Singh, a prominent member of the AAP both within and outside the Rajya Sabha, filed a bail application, which special judge MK Nagpal denied on December 22. According to the judge, there were good reasons to suspect Singh had ties to the “proceeds of crime.”
The order dated December 22 further emphasized that there were no “irregularities” or “illegalities” regarding his arrest, stating that he did not have to be named as an accused in the money laundering offence in the main excise policy case or have a charge sheet filed against him in order to be considered an accused.
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The court observed that even while these actions may be unrelated to the crime itself, the PMLA offense rests on a person’s relationship, either direct or indirect, with the proceeds of a crime.
Sanjay Singh filed a case with the Supreme Court challenging this October directive. A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna instructed the city court to consider Singh’s request for regular release regardless of the high court’s observations and requested the Center and ED’s answer to the case in November.
