Arun Ramchandra Pillai, a businessman from Hyderabad, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of its ongoing investigation into the money laundering case involving the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22, according to sources on March 7.
After being questioned by ED officers the entire day, in this case in the national capital, Arun Ramchandra Pillai was finally taken into custody late on March 6, night.
Eleven people have been taken into custody by the agency so far. Pillai’s arrest comes close on the heels of the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case.
He is among other accused named in the case along with Manish Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
A former employee of Pernod Ricard, Manoj Rai; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors Sunny Marwah and Arjun Pandey are some more accused in the case.
Amandeep Dhall, a liquor businessman, was detained last week by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case.
On March 2, Dhall, owner of Brindco Sales Private Limited, was produced before a special court that sent him to five-day ED custody. It is alleged that he was part of the conspiracy to formulate and implement an excise policy that extended favours to liquor manufacturers and distributors.
The federal agency also arrested Chariot Production Media Pvt Ltd owner Rajesh Joshi in connection with the case in February.
The agency arrested Punjab-based businessman Gautam Malhotra, son of former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, in the case last month.
In the Delhi excise policy money laundering case, the agency filed its first chargesheet with a court in the nation’s capital last year, naming liquor businessman Sameer Mahandru as one of the defendants.
The agency said it has so far undertaken nearly 200 search operations in this case after filing FIR after taking cognisance of a CBI case which was registered on the recommendation of the Delhi lieutenant governor.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials had said.
The ED had raided nearly three dozen locations in Delhi and Punjab in October, following the arrest of Sameer Mahendru, Managing Director of Delhi’s Jor Bagh-based liquor distributor Indospirit Group, in the case and arrested him later.
The CBI, too, filed its first charge sheet in the case early this week.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
As per the accusation, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19. This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
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