Guwahati: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched approximately thirty locations in Delhi and Punjab on Friday in relation to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 charges.
The raids were undertaken a few days after Sameer Mahendru, the managing director of the liquor distributor Indospirit Group in Delhi’s Jor Bagh, was detained by the Central agency.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari, and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are among those charged in the case.
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.
According to allegations made by the ED and the CBI, irregularities were committed when changing the Excise Policy, licence holders received improper favours, the licence price was waived or decreased, and 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.
As alleged, 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, said the FIR, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.