ED Conducts Raids At 35 Places Across Delhi, Punjab & Hyderabad

Delhi Excise Policy Scams: ED conducted fresh raids at 35 locations across 3 states – Delhi, Punjab & Hyderabad in Liquor Policy Case.

In connection with the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched approximately thirty locations in Delhi and Punjab on Friday.

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.

Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari, and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are all named as defendants 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, authorized signatories of Mahadev Liquors, are the other defendants.

According to allegations made by the ED and the CBI, irregularities were committed when changing the Excise Policy, license holders received improper favors, the license price was waived or decreased, and the L-1 license was prolonged without the consent of the appropriate authority. 

In order to avoid detection, the recipients produced fictitious statements in their books of accounts and channeled “illegal” gains to the charged authorities.

As claimed, the Excise Department made the unapproved decision to refund the victorious tenderer’s approximately Rs 30 crore earnest money deposit. 

Despite the absence of an enabling provision, Covid-19 permitted a waiver of the tendering license costs 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.