New Delhi:

Having spent six months behind bars in the Delhi liquor policy case, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has been released from Tihar jail. He walked out of the prison on Wednesday evening, a day after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court, which noted that there was “no trace” of the money allegedly received as bribes by the AAP for allotting liquor licences. 

Mr Singh was released after the bail order was received by the jail authorities and was welcomed by a huge crowd of AAP supporters. Addressing the crowd from atop a vehicle, the AAP leader said, “Arvind Kejriwal, who is the biggest leader, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain have been kept behind bars.”

“Mera bharosa hai ki jail ke taale tootenge, hamare saare neta chhutenge (It is my belief that all jailed AAP leaders will be freed),” he thundered.

In what is being seen as a political statement, Mr Singh is going straight to the house of Mr Kejriwal, who was arrested in the case on March 21, to meet the Delhi chief minister’s wife, Sunita. He is then expected to head to the AAP office and address workers there. 

Like Mr Kejriwal, Mr Singh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money laundering angle in the Delhi liquor policy case. After the MP was granted bail on Tuesday, senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi had said that the Supreme Court’s order had vindicated the party’s stand on the agency being unable to trace the bribe money in the alleged scam and on the alleged coercion of witnesses. 

Mr Kejriwal’s former deputy, Manish Sisodia, and BRS leader K Kavitha have also been arrested in the same case and the opposition parties have made the alleged misuse of central agencies by the BJP a central plank of their campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. They have pointed out that the arrests of opposition leaders, coupled with the freezing of Congress’ accounts, have deprived them of a level playing field, which is crucial for free-and-fair elections.

This point was made strongly by several leaders as well as Mr Kejriwal’s wife at a ‘Loktantra Bachao’ (Save Democracy) rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, which was seen as a show of strength and unity by the opposition INDIA bloc. 

Impact On Campaign?

Granting bail to Mr Singh on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked why he had been jailed for over six months without a trial or evidence of the alleged bribe paid to him by an accused-turned-approver.

Stating that the order could not be treated as a precedent, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta Prasanna B Varale had, however, allowed Mr Singh to participate in political activities. This aspect may prove crucial for the AAP, whose campaign could get a fillip with less than three weeks to go for the Lok Sabha polls.