Arun Pillai's counsel said the reports about the businessman turning approver were fake news and aimed at influencing the case.
Published Sep 15, 2023 | 12:03 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 15, 2023 | 4:40 PM
Arun Ramachandra Pillai was arrested by the ED under the claim that he was among the three key representatives of BRS MLC K Kavitha. (Sourced)
On the day when BRS MLC and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha received the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons asking her to appear before it, Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai refuted media reports that he has become an approver in a case relating to the alleged scams in the Delhi Excise Policy, terming them as “false” and “completely unfounded”.
Pillai’s counsel said on Thursday, 14 September, said that he would take legal action on behalf of his client against the media houses concerned, alleging the reports were “fake news and aimed at influencing the case”, news agency PTI reported.
The ED has claimed in its charge sheet that Pillai was a close associate of Kavitha.
Pillai’s counsel said neither his client nor his family members were contacted to ascertain the veracity of the claim about him having turned an approver.
“The contents of the media reports stating that Arun Pillai has become an approver and that he has recorded his statements in the case under Section 164 of CrPC are completely unfounded, patently false, and have no basis in facts. It has come as a shock that certain media houses have chosen to publish such false information without verifying the truth,” the counsel said.
The ED has questioned Kavitha a number of times in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. She has been asked to appear before the anti-money laundering agency at its Delhi office again on Friday.
The ED has already grilled her thrice — for a total of almost 30 hours —to establish her alleged involvement in the scam.
According to the ED, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communication head Vijay Nair, on behalf of AAP leaders, received kickbacks to the tune of ₹100 crore from a so-called “South Group” — as termed in the statements of various persons recorded during the investigation — to manipulate the Delhi excise policy to benefit them.
In a press conference in Nizamabad on Thursday, Kavitha said that further action regarding the summons would be taken after consulting with the BRS party leaders and its legal team.
“We will go by the advice of the party leaders. We strongly believe that the ED summons is politically motivated because of the upcoming elections in Telangana,” Kavitha said.
Alleging that the investigation was going at a slow pace, she said, “The Investigation has been happening for the past one year, I don’t think even the investigation of the 2G spectrum scam took this long.”
“The notices are being sent because of the emergence of KCR as a national leader and the fear that the BRS would form the government in Telangana following the upcoming elections,” she said.
Countering the Congress and the BJP’s allegations, Kavitha said: “At the end of the day, I can only say that we are not anybody’s B team but the A team of the people of Telangana and India.”
“Targeting the leaders of the ruling party using central investigation agencies is the modus operandi of the BJP in every poll-bound state,” claimed Kavitha, adding that the summons was not “ED notice, but Modi notice”.
The latest summons to Kavitha comes after five people who were part of the “South Group” turned approvers in the case, which is being probed by the CBI and the ED.
According to the CBI, the prominent names in the “South Group” include YSRCP MP Magunta Srinuvasulu Reddy, his son Raghava, and Kavitha.
Arun Ramachandran Pillai was also arrested by the ED on the contention that he was among the three key representatives of Kavitha.
Apart from Pillai, the two other representatives of Kavitha are said to be beauty salon chain owner Abhishek Boinpally and chartered accountant Gorantla Butchibabu.
YSRCP MP Sreenivasulu Reddy, whose name also figured in the case, turned approver on 8 September. His son Magunta Raghava Reddy had turned approver before him.
Hyderabad-based industrialist P Sharath Chandra Reddy and chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla had also turned approvers.
Businessman Dinesh Arora has also turned approver in the case, taking the total to five.
During its probe, the ED had recorded the statement of Butchibabu, in which he had said “There was a political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and deputy chief minister (Manish Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021”.
Vijay Nair, who is also in custody, was the communications in-charge of Kejriwal’s AAP and was said to be the key link between the “South Group” and the party in power in Delhi.
Kavitha has asserted that she has done no wrong and accused the BJP-led Union government of “using” the ED as the saffron party could not gain a “backdoor entry” into Telangana.
The ED first summoned Kavitha to appear before it in New Delhi on 9 March. However, she appeared before it on 11 March, citing some inconveniences.
On 11 March, the ED grilled Kavitha, amid protests in Hyderabad and Delhi, and a day after she led a protest in the capital, along with Opposition parties, demanding early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
On 20 March, ED sleuths again grilled Kavitha for close to 10 hours. She was grilled for the third time, that too for almost 10 hours, on 21 March.
According to sources, the ED officials examined the mobile phones that Kavitha submitted to them, saying that they were the ones that she had been using.
She submitted the phones to nix the officials’ claims that she had obliterated the data on 10 mobile phones she used to cover her tracks in the case.
In its first prosecution complaint filed in the court, the ED has said that kickbacks were paid in advance to AAP leaders through Vijay Nair by the South Group, as part of an agreement between them.
As against kickbacks that were paid, the South Group secured uninhibited access and undue favours, and attained stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones, over and above what was allowed in the policy, said the CBI charge sheet.
To recover the kickbacks, the partners of the South Group were given a 65 percent stake in Indo-Spirits in collusion with Sameer Mahendru, the owner of the firm.
This partnership formation was directed by Nair on the assurance of giving the wholesale business of Pernod Richard to Indo-Spirits.
The South Group controlled Indo-Spirits’ stakes through false representation, concealment and proxies, the investigation agency said.
(With PTI inputs)
