New Delhi, April 15 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in the latest arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, has taken Chanpreet Singh, allegedly involved in managing funds for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the Goa polls, into custody, an official said on Monday.

Chanpreet Singh is the 17th accused to be arrested in the alleged excise scam and has been sent to ED custody till April 18.

Earlier, the ED had said that during the custodial interrogation of arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whom it termed as kingpin in the alleged excise scam, he was also shown the evidence of Hawala transfers to the tune of Rs 45 crore (approximately) which is corroborated with CDR locations, call records, IT seized data of a hawala firm in Goa, proof of payments being done in part cash and part bill and WhatsApp messages showing this arrangement.

"He was also shown multiple statements of witnesses, who worked on the AAP campaign in Goa and received cash from Chanpreet Singh, who was working for the AAP campaign in Goa,” it had said.

"This (Chanpreet Singh) person collected and facilitated the collection of Rs 45 crore cash through Hawala and also received Rs 2,20,340 directly in his bank account from the AAP. Even after showing all the above evidence, the arrestee (Kejriwal) claimed unawareness even though the beneficiary of these funds is the AAP which is headed by the arrestee," it added.

According to sources, Charanpreet Singh became a freelance worker for the AAP from around May-June 2021 until March 2022, contributing to the party's Goa election campaign.