ED knocks on another AAP leader’s door: Why Sanjay Singh matters

On Tuesday, a Delhi court allowed him and Raghav Magunta Reddy, the son of a YSR Congress Party MP, to become approvers in the money laundering case being investigated by the ED.

According to senior AAP leaders, “undue pressure” being put on the businessmen is pushing them to turn approvers to save themselves.

“For Sanjay Singh and the AAP, the raids being conducted hours after two accused have turned approvers is unsettling. Arora was known to Singh for a few months before the excise policy came into effect. Now, the investigating agencies have pushed them to turn approvers,” said a party source.

Singh has been part of the meetings of the INDIA alliance along with party and Rajya Sabha colleague Raghav Chadha, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He has also been at the forefront of the AAP’s political attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past several months.

From meeting Opposition leaders and chief ministers and holding the fort in Rajya Sabha to taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party and PM Modi head-on, Singh has been a constant presence next to party chief Kejriwal since before the AAP came into being in 2012.

But more so after former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI and ED in the Delhi excise policy case.

In May this year, the homes and offices of two of Singh’s closest associates — Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra — were raided by the ED in relation to the ongoing excise policy case.

Singh’s name has figured in the supplementary prosecution complaint (akin to a chargesheet) filed by the ED. Earlier in May, the investigating agency said in a response to a legal notice served on it by Singh that it had added his name “inadvertently” in one of the four references to him in the supplementary prosecution complaint. It clarified that this error had crept in in one out of four instances.

Singh, a social activist with roots in Uttar Pradesh, joined the 2011 Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement in Delhi and was among the few leaders to be present on stage at Ramlila Maidan as the protest marched on. When the AAP was formed in November 2012, Singh was among the core members.

The most vocal Rajya Sabha member from AAP between 2018 and 2022, Singh is seen as the party’s link with Opposition parties.

“He is a very senior member of the party and has a very astute political understanding. He has, over the past few years, built links with non-BJP parties, including Congress. That he is accompanying Kejriwal ji in his meetings with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee as well as Uddhav Thackeray is a clear indication of his stature in the party as well as among Opposition leaders,” said a senior party leader.

“His importance in the party can be judged simply on the basis of the positions he holds,” the leader added.

Singh is a member of AAP’s political affairs committee as well as the national executive. He is also the national spokesperson and the in-charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

However, his place in the party is not limited to these positions, especially after Sisodia’s arrest.

“While there is no one who can replace Manish ji, Sanjay sir has been a big support for the CM since February. It is not surprising that the Centre is focussing their attention on him in relation to the excise policy investigation,” said a party leader.