Delhi excise policy: ED arrested businessman Amit Arora on money laundering charges

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• Nov 30, 2022 | Dhupali Das

Last week, the ED also submitted its first charge sheet (prosecution complaint) in the case, which included the names of a...

Digital Desk: In the latest development in Delhi's excise policy case, the enforcement directorate (ED) arrested businessman Amit Arora on Wednesday.

Arora, the director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurgram, has been arrested in connection with a money laundering probe in the excise policy probe.

Arora was arrested last night under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. 

According to the agencies, he will be produced before a local court, where the agency will demand his custody.

The CBI said in a recently filed charge sheet in the case that Amit Arora, along with two other accused, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey, are "close allies" of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and were "actively involved in handling and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage obtained from liquor licensees" for the accused public servants.

Last week, the ED also submitted its first charge sheet (prosecution complaint) in the case, which included the names of a few other parties as well as the arrested businessman Sameer Mahandru.

The CBI also filed a charge sheet last week against arrested businessmen Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally, as well as five other accused.

Despite being arrested by the CBI, Nair and Boinpally were recently granted bail by a special court. They are still in custody in connection with the Enforcement Directorate's case against them.

Along with Nair and Boinpally, the charge sheet also names the managing director of the India Ahead News channel, Mootha Gautam, Hyderabad-based liquor businessman and a partner of Boinpally in Robin Distilleries LLP Arun R Pillai, owner of Indospirit Sameer Mahendru and two former officials of the excise department -- Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Singh and Assistant Commissioner Narender Singh.

The seven accused have been identified in the charge sheet under IPC Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and the bribery provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the officials said.

The charge sheet does not include Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is listed in the CBI FIR.

The Delhi government's policy on granting liquor licences is said to have been influenced in favour of select dealers who reportedly paid bribes for it, an accusation strongly rejected by Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In the FIR filed on August 17, the CBI listed as accused the then-excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, the then-deputy excise commissioner Anand Kumar Tiwari, the assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, nine businesspeople, and two companies, in addition to Sisodia, who handles the excise portfolio in the Delhi government.

The agency claims in its FIR that Sisodia and other accused public employees recommended and made decisions on the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 without seeking the necessary approval from the appropriate authorities and with "an intention to offer unfair favours to the licensees post tender."

According to the CBI, Radha Industries, managed by Dinesh Arora, got Rs 1 crore from Sameer Mahendru of Indospirits.