Abhishek Boinpally was arrested by the ED in the liquor policy scam in November 2022. He had been languishing in jail for the last 19 months.
The Supreme Court of India. (iStock)
In a relief to Hyderabad businessman Abhishek Boinpally, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 20 March, granted him interim bail for four weeks in the Delhi Liquor Policy scam case.
The court allowed his bail application as his wife, who is not well, was in need of medical treatment.
The apex court, after granting the bail, adjourned the case to 29 April. The court allowed him to travel to Hyderabad and ensure that the medical treatment to his wife is done there itself.
Before leaving for Hyderabad, he was asked to surrender his passport and leave his phone number with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
Abhishek Boinpally was arrested by the ED in the liquor policy scam in November 2022. He had been languishing in jail for the last 19 months.
A water-tight case was built by ED against him charging him with playing a key role in payment of ₹100 crore in kickbacks by the South Group to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in return for tweaking the now scrapped Delhi liquor policy scam to suit them.
Abhishek is accused of moving ₹30 crore of the total ₹100 crore through hawala route to Delhi from Hyderabad.
CBI, which was the first to investigate Boinpally’s involvement, had said that Boinpally along with AAP leader Vijay Nair had a role in the evolving the excise policy.
The investigation agency had said that they had a hand in the issue of liquor licences to various traders and distributors. The ED, based on the findings of the CBI, continued its investigation in the case for possible money laundering (PMLA).
ED found that Abhishek Boinpally had acted as a middleman for collection of bribes from several liquor companies in the South. He is also charged with acting as a front for Arun Ramachandra Pillai, another Hyderabad businessman.
Meanwhile, BRS MLC Kavitha, who was arrested by the ED at her posh Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on 15 March, the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting the city, in her petition to the supreme court, had contended that her arrest amounted to violation of her fundamental rights as it violated the law of the land.
She contended that though her another petition was pending before the Supreme Court, the ED officials had arrested her but did not show any shred of evidence in support of their charges.
Kavitha argued that she was not shown as an accused anywhere in the charge sheets or in the FIR.
The BRS MLC alleged that the ED used third degree treatment on the witnesses and referred to how a witness E Chandan Reddy was roughed up, which led him losing his sense of hearing.
This was the reason why P Sharath Reddy and Magunta Raghava Reddy had turned into approvers, she argued in her petition.
(Edited by Shauqueen Mizaj)
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