Bail pleas of the five accused, Sameer Mahendru, Sarath Reddy, Benoy Babu, Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally, were dismissed.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at several corporate hospitals and medical colleges in Telangana. (Creative Commons)
The Rouse Avenue District Court in New Delhi on Thursday, 16 February, rejected the bail petitions of five persons arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi liquor scam.
The ED arrested Sameer Mahendru on 28 September, 2022, while Sarath Chandra Reddy and Benoy Babu were held on 10 November, 2022, and Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally on 13 November, 2022.
The ED has initiated an investigation into the matter by recording an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) — ECIR/HIU-II/14/2022 on 22 August, 2022 — with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, which are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
For the collection of evidence and material related to the case, provisions of Sections 17, 19, 50 and 54 of the PMLA were invoked.
Search operations were conducted in Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu resulting in the seizure of documents, digital devices, currencies and valuables.
Accordingly, the ED arrested Sameer Mahendru, Sarath Chandra Reddy, Benoy Babu, Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally under provisions of Section 19 of the PMLA.
Sameer Mahendru is the owner of IndoSpirits while Benoy Babu is the regional head of liquor major Pernod Ricard, and Vijay Nair was the communications and media in charge of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sarath Chandra Reddy is the director of a leading pharmaceutical company in Hyderabad and Abhishek Boinpally is the owner of a beauty salon chain.
The ED is probing the case based on the FIR issued by the CBI.
An FIR — No. RC0032022A0053 — dated 17 August, 2022 was registered by CBI Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), New Delhi, against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others under Section 120B read with 477A of Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 for irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the year 2021-22.
The FIR is registered on the directions of competent authority conveyed by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Director Praveen Kumar Rai — vide OM (Office Memorandum) No.14035/06/2022-Delhi-l dated 22/07/22 — for enquiry into the matter of irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy.
Praveen Kumar Rai has also forwarded DO (Demi Official) letter no. SLG/Conf./2022/75 dated 20/07/2022 of GNTCD Lt. Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena alleging irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy.
The OM discloses that Manish Sisodia, Arva Gopi Krishna, the then Commissioner (Excise) of GNCTD Anand Tiwari and GNCTD Assistant Commissioner (Excise) Pankaj Bhatnagar, were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to the now scrapped excise policy without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender.
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