Money laundering case: Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh's custody extended

A Delhi court on Thursday, 7 March, extended the judicial custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam.

Special judge M.K. Nagpal extended the custody of the leaders after they were produced before the court on the expiry of their judicial remand granted earlier.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court said it will hear on 11 March a plea filed by Sanjay, who has challenged the Gujarat High Court order dismissing his petition to quash the summons issued against him in a criminal defamation case over alleged comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualification.

The ED sought further judicial custody for the two AAP leaders, saying that the case was at a crucial stage, and if released, the accused may hamper the investigation.

The CBI had registered the case alleging that irregularities were committed while modifying Delhi's now scrapped excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.

The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection. The ED started its investigation based on a CBI case, and it is probing the money laundering part of the alleged scam.

The CBI arrested Sisodia in February 2023 and he was taken in custody from Tihar Jail by the ED in March. Sisodia resigned as deputy chief minister of Delhi following his arrest by the CBI.

Sanjay Singh was arrested in October 2023 by the ED. He was elected for a second consecutive term to Rajya Sabha in January 2024.