Excise policy case: Court allows AAP's Sanjay Singh to file RS nomination personally

CHENNAI: A Delhi court on Saturday allowed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, arrested in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam in October 2023, to file his nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections personally before a returning officer.

Singh had moved a plea before Special Judge MK Nagpal at Rouse Avenue Court to direct the Tihar Jail superintendent to allow him to sign the relevant documents in order to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha as his present term is set to end on January 27, 2024.

"It is being directed that if the documents are presented by counsel for the accused before jail authorities on January 6, 2024, the jail superintendent shall ensure that the signatures of the accused are permitted to be taken on said documents, and he is also permitted to meet his counsel for half an hour to discuss the modalities in connection with the filing of the said nomination," Justice Nagpal was quoted saying to the news agency PTI.

Earlier on Friday, AAP renominated sitting members of the upper house of Parliament — Narain Dass Gupta and Sanjay Singh — for a second term and nominated former Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal as its third candidate.

The ED had arrested Sanjay Singh on October 4.

The ED has alleged that Singh played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy, which benefited certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, for monetary considerations. Singh has strongly rebutted the claim.

(With inputs from PTI)