The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a supplementary charge-sheet against former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and three others in connection with the case related to the now-scrapped liquor excise policy.
Among those arraigned are businessperson Amandeep Singh Dhall, Chartered Accountant Butchibabu Gorantla, and one Arjun Pandey. The court has fixed May 12 for arguments on the supplementary charge-sheet.
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On April 16, the CBI had recorded the statement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the same case. He later alleged that the entire case was fabricated and the agency did not have any proof. “It is a result of dirty politics,” he had said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Mr. Sisodia on March 9, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Earlier, the CBI arrested him on February 26 for the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy.
The CBI had registered the case on August 17, 2022 against Mr. Sisodia and 14 others following a reference from the Union Home Ministry. It was alleged that the excise policy had been modified to extend undue favours to licence holders; licence fee was waived or reduced; and L-1 (wholesaler) licence was extended without the competent authority’s permission.
As alleged, the then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communication and media in-charge Vijay Nair, on behalf of the party leaders, received ₹100 crore as “kickbacks” in advance from a “South Group”, whose prominent entities were Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (or BRS, formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) MLC K. Kavitha, and Aurobindo Pharma director P. Sarath Chandra Reddy.
‘False representation’
The group partners were allocated 65% stakes in accused businessperson Sameer Mahandru’s Indo Spirits for the recovery of the payments. The stakes were controlled through “false representation, concealment of true ownership and proxies”.
According to the CBI’s first chargesheet, the wholesale distribution of Pernod Ricard and Diageo was to go to Indo Spirits and Brindco Spirits, respectively. After getting the money back, the 6% kickbacks received from wholesalers was to be shared equally between Mr. Nair and Hyderabad-businessman Abhishek Boinpally.
The ED is conducting the money laundering probe based on the CBI’s case. Its charge-sheets allege that a part of the alleged kickbacks were diverted through “hawala” channels for the AAP’s poll campaign in the 2022 Goa Assembly election.
The ED has alleged that the “South Group” members were represented by co-accused Arun Pillai, Mr. Boinpally and Mr. Gorantla. The new excise policy extended an extraordinary 12% profit margin for wholesalers and almost 185% profit margin for retailers. It was decided that half of the 12% margin would be collected from wholesalers.
