New Delhi, Oct 13 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh on Friday said in a Delhi court that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has become and 'entertainment department'.
The court sent Singh to 14-day judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the ED pertaining to the now-scrapped excise policy.
On expiry of his three-day remand granted to the financial probe agency on October 10, Singh was produced before the Special Judge M.K. Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Court.
Upon Singh saying during the hearing that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not act on his complaint given against "Adani", the judge directed him not to discuss unrelated matters or give speeches inside the court, or he will ask for his production through video conferencing from now on.
The AAP leader also contended that during his custody, the ED did not even ask questions related to the case.
"It has become an entertainment department.” Singh said.
After hearing the parties briefly, the judge sent him to judicial custody till October 27.
It is to be noted that Singh on Friday also moved the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest and remand. The court has agreed to hear Singh's plea on Friday itself after his lawyer mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula
Singh has challenged his arrest by and remand to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying that the grounds of arrest were not given to him by the financial probe agency.
On Tuesday, the ED had sought his further custody from Judge Nagpal on the grounds that his behaviour was totally non-cooperative with regard to the source of acquisition of some confidential documents of ED pertaining to this case.
Other grounds on which the ED sought his custody were that he refused to acknowledge or sign the Call Detail Record (CDR) of his mobile number in respect to the calls appearing between the said number and the number of co-accused, Amit Arora.
It was further submitted that the digital data of around 200 GB has been recovered during the course of fresh search and the same is yet to be analysed and the task of confrontation of accused with the said digital data is yet not completed.
On the other hand, senior advocate Rebecca John, who argued for Singh, claimed that the ED had no ground for seeking extension of his custody in the case.
"I (Singh) will not plead guilty to your fanciful allegations," she said.
The court had also directed Singh not speak to media while being produced, saying it creates security problems. The judge also directed journalists not to ask him questions.
The financial probe agency on October 4 arrested Singh after carrying out searches at his residence in the North Avenue area. Singh was arrested under Sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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