The apex court was hearing Boinpally's plea against a Delhi High Court order that dismissed his plea challenging the legality of his arrest.
The Supreme Court of India. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Supreme Court on Friday, 10 November, sought the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) response on a plea moved by businessman Abhishek Boinpally, who has been arrested in a money-laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, challenging the legality of his arrest by the agency.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti issued a notice to the ED and sought the agency’s reply by 20 November.
The court was hearing Boinpally’s plea against a Delhi High Court order that dismissed his plea challenging the legality of his arrest.
Boinpally had challenged his arrest before the high court on the grounds of non-compliance of Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA), which deals with the procedure for arrest.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing in the court on behalf of Boinpally, referred to a recent apex court judgement and said that the ED must furnish the reasons of arrest to the accused in writing.
The top court said it will take up the matter along with Boinpally’s bail plea, in which a notice was issued on 11 August, on the next date of hearing.
Boinpally is an associate of Arun Ramachandran Pillai, one of the accused in the case.
He was called for questioning by CBI on 10 October 2022. According to CBI, as he was evading key questions, he was taken into custody late in the night.
It has been claimed that Boinpally was part of clandestine meetings and was involved in a conspiracy to launder money along with another accused, Sameer Mahendru, a businessman dealing in liquor.
The ED and the CBI have alleged the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who paid bribes for licenses. The AAP has strongly refuted the charge.
The excise policy was scrapped after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged corruption.
The ED had recently summoned Kejriwal for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.
On 30 October, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea for bail by former deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia both in the alleged criminal case by the CBI and a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy scam.
The court further directed to fastrack the case.
The ED has claimed in one of the charge sheets that it has recorded the statement of Butchibabu Gorantla, an accountant allegedly linked to BRS leader K Kavitha, in which he said, “There was a political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Kejriwal) and (former) deputy chief minister (Manish Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair (AAP communications in-charge arrested in the case) on 19-20 March 2021.”
(With PTI inputs)
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