Money laundering case: SC to hear AAP leader Sanjay's Singh bail plea on March 19

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear on March 19 a plea filed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who has challenged an order of the Delhi High Court which refused to grant him bail in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra was informed by the counsel appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that they would file their reply to Singh's plea during the day.

The ED's counsel said the apex court had on February 26 issued notice to the probe agency seeking its response on the plea. He said the reply was ready and would be filed.

"You are filing it today?" the bench asked.

The counsel said the ED would file the reply during the day.

"Then we will keep it on next Tuesday," the bench said while posting the matter for hearing on March 19.

A separate plea filed by Singh challenging his arrest and remand in the money-laundering case also came up for hearing before the bench.

Both the pleas would now come up for hearing on March 19.

The high court had on February 7 rejected the bail application of Singh, who has been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Delhi, but directed the trial court to expedite the trial once it starts.

Singh was arrested in the case by the ED on October 4 last year.

Before the high court, Singh had sought bail on the grounds that he has been in custody for over three months and no role has been attributed to him in the predicate offence.

The probe agency had in the high court opposed the bail plea and claimed that Singh was involved in acquiring, possessing, concealing, dissipating and using proceeds of crime generated from the Delhi liquor scam pertaining to the policy period of 2021-22.

The agency had further claimed that the AAP leader has gained illegal money or kickbacks which are proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy (2021-22) scam and that he has also played a role in conspiracy with others.

The ED's money laundering case stems from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 and undue favours were extended to license holders.