Guwahati: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Sameer Mahendru in the nation’s capital as part of its investigation into money laundering related to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22.
Mahendru, the managing director of Delhi’s Jor Bagh-based Indospirit Group was detained by ED agents during raids that they carried out this morning. The ED’s action comes a day after Vijay Nair, the former CEO of Mumbai-based Only Much Louder, was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case.
Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, Arva Gopi Krishna, the deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari, and assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are among the accused public workers.
Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard, Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales, Amit Arora, and Dinesh Arora, directors of Buddy Retail, and Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, and Arjun Pandey, authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors, are also charged.
The ED and the CBI claim that improper actions were taken when changing the Excise Policy, that licence holders received improper favours, that the licence fee was waived or decreased, and that the L-1 licence was prolonged without the consent of the appropriate authority. In order to avoid detection, the recipients produced fictitious entries in their books of accounts and channelled “illegal” gains to the charged authorities.
It is alleged that, in violation of the established procedures, the Excise Department opted to return the approximately Rs 30 crore Earnest Money Deposit to a winning tenderer. Despite the absence of an enabling provision, COVID-19 permitted a waiver of the tendering licence price from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022.
The FIR, which was initiated on a referral from the Union Home Ministry on a recommendation by Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, said that this resulted in a loss to the exchequer of Rs 144.36 crore.