AAP MP Sanjay Singh arrested by ED
New Delhi: ED has arrested Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh in Delhi’s liquor policy scam. The AAP leader has been arrested by ED after the raid on his house since morning.
Why were Aam Aadmi Party and its officials also not made accused?
During the hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday on the bail plea of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, accused in the liquor scam, the Supreme Court asked many important questions. The court questioned whether courts can examine notes that are part of cabinet meetings and whether they are exempt from parliamentary proceedings. The court also asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), that if the Aam Aadmi Party has benefited from the liquor scam, then why was it not made an accused?
According to a Bar and Bench report, the bench said, ‘Mr. Raju, we want you to tell, and there are decisions of this court, to what extent the cabinet note can be made a part of the trial in the court. I believe there are certain judgments of the Constitution Bench which prevent us from examining the Cabinet Notes. I don’t know whether this is applicable to Delhi also, as it is a Union Territory. However, he has not raised it. The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti also said that since the Aam Aadmi Party is the beneficiary of the alleged money laundering, why have the political party and its office-bearers not been made accused in the case?
The court said, ‘It is being said that a political party was the beneficiary of this, but not a single accused or party has been made.’ Hearing on Sisodia’s petition will continue on Thursday also. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for the last several months due to allegations in the liquor scam, has challenged in the Supreme Court the High Court order in which his bail plea was rejected. Cases have been registered against Sisodia by CBI and ED and in both the cases he has been disappointed by the lower courts.
Presenting arguments in the Supreme Court on behalf of Manish Sisodia, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Sisodia fulfills all the conditions for getting bail. There is no risk of him fleeing nor will he threaten any witnesses. He also said that the excise policy was not the result of a single minister’s decision but was an institutional decision.
