The Delhi High Court on Monday told the Enforcement Directorate to respond to a bail application filed by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, who is in jail in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, PTI reported.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued a notice to the investigating agency and posted the matter for hearing on January 29.

On December 22, a Delhi court dismissed Singh’s bail plea in an alleged money-laundering case, saying that the case against him appeared to be genuine on a preliminary reading.

In his bail application filed before the high court, Singh has stated that he has been in custody for the last three months and that no role was attributed to him in the predicate offence. A predicate offence is the original offence based on which the Enforcement Directorate files a complaint.

The Enforcement Directorate, however, alleged that the Rajya Sabha MP had a significant role in formulating and implementing the now-scrapped policy.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have alleged that the Delhi government in November 2021 modified the excise policy to ensure a 12% profit margin for wholesalers and a nearly 185% profit margin for retailers.

The Enforcement Directorate has claimed that members of a so-called South Group had paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party through businessman Vijay Nair. The agency also alleged that the “South Group secured uninhibited access and attained stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones [over and above what was allowed in the policy].”

On January 5, the Aam Aadmi Party renominated Singh for a second term in the Upper House of Parliament. He filed his nomination papers on Monday.