Delhi excise case: ED arrests Chanpreet Singh who 'managed' AAP funds for Goa polls

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Chanpreet Singh, who allegedly "managed" AAP funds for the Goa assembly elections, in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, official sources said Monday.

He was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

This is the 17th arrest in the case by the ED. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested last month and he is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.

Chanpreet Singh was earlier arrested by the CBI too in the same case. The money laundering case stems from the Central Bureau of Investigation FIR.

The ED had earlier informed the court that Chanpreet Singh "managed" cash payments made to survey workers, area managers, assembly managers and others who were undertaking campaigning for the AAP during the 2022 assembly elections.

It is alleged by the agency that the 'South Group' -- comprising BRS leader and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter K Kavitha, businessman Sarath Chandra Reddy and others -- paid Rs 100 crore bribe to AAP for obtaining a prime position in the Delhi liquor market as part of the scrapped excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped.

Out of these alleged kickbacks, the ED has claimed, Rs 45 crore was used by the AAP to fund its Goa election campaign.