A Delhi court on Tuesday, 10 October extended the custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh with the Enforcement Directorate by three days in connection with an alleged money laundering case.
The case is related to the Delhi excise policy.
Singh on Tuesday was brought before Rouse Avenue Court Special Judge MK Nagpal.
What the court said:
“In view of the facts and circumstances and the submissions made, this court deems it necessary to extend the ED custody of the accused for a further period of 3 days, and he shall now be produced before this court from ED custody on 13.10.2023.”Rouse Avenue Court
What the ED said:
The ED sought Singh's custody as a result of his alleged uncooperative behaviour in obtaining secret documents and his refusal to sign the "Call Detail Record" of his mobile number with regard to calls between him and co-accused Amit Arora, reported IANS.
Additionally, the ED alleged that Singh failed to provide the whereabouts of his earlier mobile phones and was questioned about new information regarding a demand for Rs 4 crore by a close friend of the accused from a liquor businessman in Punjab.
The ED emphasised the need for further questioning of the accused following the recent seizure of digital data as well as the discovery of new facts. The data, which is around 200 GB, was allegedly recovered during a fresh search but is yet to be analysed. The task of confronting the accused with the digital data is still incomplete, IANS reported.
Senior advocate Rebecca John argued for Singh, stating that the ED had no grounds to extend his custody in the case.
The judge granted custody to Singh, requiring the Intelligence Officer (IO) to analyse digital data within three days, conduct interrogation and confrontation, and direct the ED to preserve CCTV footage.
Singh's questioning will be conducted at a location with CCTV coverage, and the court instructed him not to speak to the media during production due to security concerns and journalists not to ask him questions.
Singh was arrested on October 4 after searches at his North Avenue residence under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
(With inputs from IANS)
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