The Delhi High Court has dismissed Sanjay Singh's petition against his arrest by the ED in the Excise Policy case.

On Friday, the Delhi High Court dismissed Sanjay Singh's appeal contesting his detention by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy scam case and his subsequent arrest for money laundering. Sanjay Singh is a member of parliament for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The ED is a top-tier investigative agency, and Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed Singh's appeal today evening while noting that doing so could damage the nation's reputation.

The Court added that there is now insufficient evidence to draw the conclusion that Dinesh Arora, an approver whose remarks helped lead to Singh's arrest, gave false information or acted illegally.

Sanjay Singh's attorney's claims that evidence was fabricated against the AAP leader cannot currently be taken into account, it was said.

The High Court is hearing a case involving Singh's arrest on October 4 following an ED search of his home. He was remanded to ED custody on October 5 for a period that was initially set for October 10 but was later extended to October 13. He was sent in judicial custody on October 13 for a period of 14 days.

Singh filed a petition with the High Court, claiming that the legal system had been abused by his arrest.

Singh was represented by Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari, who contended that Singh is a well-known leader who has never been summoned or asked to appear in court.

He added that the grounds for the arrest must be provided in writing by the ED prior to making the arrest, citing the Supreme Court's October 3 ruling in the M3M Reality case (Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India).

"The Supreme Court made a pretty unusual statement. The ED is a prime agency, and as such, it must be fair, according to one paragraph. According to the Supreme Court, they cannot be retaliatory. Nevertheless, they are still the juror, judge, and executioner," Chaudhari continued.

The accusations made against Singh centre on his alleged involvement in the formulation and execution of the now-cancelled Delhi Excise Policy, which was purportedly designed to favour specific spirits producers, distributors, and retailers.

With Singh's arrest, the AAP leader in the excise policy matter has been arrested three times in a high-profile manner.

In-charge of AAP communications September 2022 saw the arrest of Vijay Nair. Manish Sisodia, the former Delhi deputy chief minister, was taken into custody in February 2023. They are both still incarcerated.