Will not impute political affiliation to Enforcement Directorate without evidence: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court Friday said that it will not impute any political affiliations or objectives to central investigating Enforcement Directorate (ED) unless there is solid evidence lending credence to such claims [Sanjay Singh v Union of India & Anr]..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that the Court will not be part of the discussion regarding the Delhi excise policy case being politically motivated or the allegation that ED, which probes money laundering cases, is under the control of a particular political party.“This Court without there being any evidence on record would desist from imputing political affiliations or objectives to a premier investigating agency as the reputation of the premier investigating agency of a country has direct relation to the reputation of a country being fair entity itself.” The Court also said that even if the ED is a premier investigating agency of the country, it cannot be expected to work as magicians and it has to be afforded fair and adequate opportunity for investigating to find out the truth.“Even if the investigating agency/ED is premier investigating agency, they cannot be expected to work as magicians and even if with the aid of technology and best investigative skills at their best are to be applied, it will still take time to investigate the case and try to reach the truth,” the Court observed..Justice Sharma made these observations while rejecting the plea by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh challenging his arrest by the ED and the subsequent remand order granting his custody to ED in the Delhi Excise Policy scam.The case against Singh involves allegations that he played a key role in framing and implementing the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, which was allegedly aimed at benefiting certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers..In a detailed judgement, the Court dealt with Singh’s contention that there was no money trail or recovery of money in the case.The Court was of the view that this is a case where advance kickbacks have been alleged to be paid in cash, it can hardly be expected that the accused will leave any apparent trail which can be found in the first blush.“The argument of the learned counsel that the cheese and chalk must be separated by this court is a powerful argument. In this regard, this court holds that the cheese and the chalk can be separated by the court once the entire material i.e. the cheese and the chalk mixed together will be brought before the Court which the investigative agency is trying to collect,” the Court said..Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary along with advocates Rajat Bhardwaj, Vivek Jain, Mohd Irshad, Ankita M Bhardwaj, Kanishk Raj, Kaustabh Khanna, Rishi Sehgal, Arveen Sehhon and Nikita Gill appeared for Sanjay Singh.ED was represented through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, ED’s Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain as well as advocates Vivek Gurnani and Kartik Sabharwal..Singh's arrest marked the third high-profile arrest of an AAP leader in the excise policy case.AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair was arrested in September 2022. Former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 2023. Both are still behind bars..[Read Judgment]