AAP Leader Seeks Nod To Prosecute Probe Agency Chief For "Defaming" Him

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has written to the Union finance secretary seeking sanction to prosecute the Enforcement Directorate chief and the assistant director for allegedly making "false and derogatory claims" against him in connection with the Delhi excise policy case which he is being probed by the agency.

Mr Singh's letter came after the ED filed an application, on April 20, in a court seeking to correct a "typographical/clerical" error related to his name in the charge sheet. 

ED sources said Mr Singh's name appears four times in the charge sheet out of which one reference is wrong as his name was typed "inadvertently" in place Rahul Singh's.

Rahul Singh was Delhi excise commissioner when the policy was formulated.

AAP alleged that Sanjay Singh's name has been mentioned in the ED charge sheet in the case "at the behest of the PMO" to defame the party and its leaders.

Mr Singh had on April 22 sent a legal notice through his lawyer to ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Assistant Director Jogender Singh, asking them to issue an apology, or face civil and criminal proceedings.

An ED counsel wrote to Mr Singh's lawyer on April 29 saying, "Instead of Rahul Singh, Sanjay Singh was inadvertently mentioned at only one reference. The application for correction is much prior to the date of the present notice (Sanjay Singh's notice to the ED on April 22), which demonstrates the bona fide of the agency," the ED counsel said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, AAP said, "Senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has written a letter to the Union Finance Secretary, seeking sanction for prosecuting ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Assistant Director Jogender Singh." "The request has been made to prosecute the officers under Section 499 r/w Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for making defamatory and untrue statements about Sanjay Singh," the party added.

ED sources said the agency moved a petition before the designated special PMLA court on April 20 to rectify the anomaly in the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) after the "typographical/clerical" error came to notice.

In a video message issued on Wednesday, Mr Singh slammed the agency. "In reply to my legal notice, the ED today has admitted that my name was put in the charge sheet by mistake. What kind of joke is this? What kind of fake probe is this?" The ED is conducting "a baseless" probe into the alleged scam in the Delhi liquor policy, he alleged.

"For the first time in history, the ED, which dances to the tune of Modi, accepted its mistake. Action against Manish Sisodia, attempt to defame me and arrest of others --behind all these there is only one objective. Modi ji wants to tarnish the image of Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party," Mr Singh charged. 

"The ED's investigation is Modi's conspiracy." Mr Singh said the Delhi chief minister has achieved whatever he has due to his "ability, competence and capability".

"Kejriwal will continue to run his government with full honesty. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to succeed. You cannot stop Kejriwal," he added.

The BJP attacked Mr Kejriwal and Singh over the matter, accusing them of spreading lies and rumours.

"You often claim to be educated. Where is it written in the ED lawyer's letter that Sanjay Singh is not an accused, or that the ED has apologised?" Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva tweeted with a purported response of the ED counsel to the Mr Singh's lawyer.

"The ED has rather said Sanjay Singh's notice is illegal. If you cannot read it, get it read by somebody else. Spreading lies and rumours is the true character of Aam Aadmi Party," he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)