Delhi court seeks ED’s reply on bail applications of two excise policy accused

ED arrested Joshi, owner of Chariot Production Media Pvt. Ltd. on February 8 while Raghav, son of YSR Congress leader Magunta Srinivasulu, was arrested two days later on February 10

A Delhi Court on Saturday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the Delhi excise policy scam, to file a reply to the bail applications moved by Rajesh Joshi and Raghav Magunta, accused in the Delhi liquor scam case.

The court has listed the hearing on March 16 and March 17 (File Photo)

The court while seeking a response from the ED listed the same for hearing on March 16 and March 17, respectively.

ED arrested Joshi, owner of Chariot Production Media Pvt. Ltd. on February 8 while Raghav, son of YSR Congress leader Magunta Srinivasulu, was arrested two days later on February 10.

Upon Magunta’s arrest, the anti-money laundering agency alleged that he played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy and was also one of the persons responsible for the recoupment of kickbacks.

ED submitted that Raghav owned many shares of M/s Indospirits, which was the vehicle through which recoupment of kickbacks was to happen, through a proxy person and was involved in activities of possession, use, transfer, etc, involving the proceeds of crimes amounting to ₹180 crore.

On the other hand, regarding Joshi, ED alleged that he had been involved in laundering money by raising fake invoices without providing any underlying services.

ED is conducting a probe in a case of money laundering under PMLA in relation to the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 22, 2022, based on a complaint filed by the lieutenant governor of Delhi. ED has to date arrested ten people in connection to the case.

ED in its charge sheet has named liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru as the kingpin and one of the main beneficiaries of the conspiracy. The probe agency also filed a supplementary complaint on January 6 in the case naming a total of 17 entities as accused, including Mahendru, Vijay Nair, P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, Benoy Babu, Abhishek Boinpally and Amit Arora along with 11 companies.

The first charge sheet filed by ED in the case against Mahendru was in November last year.

In January, the ED attached properties worth ₹76.54 crore, including the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) communication in-charge Nair’s house worth ₹1.77 crore in Crescent Bay, Parel (Mumbai), businessman Mahendru and his wife Geetika Mahendru’s residential properties worth ₹35 crore in Delhi’s upscale Jor Bagh area, among others.

In the latest development, a Delhi court on Saturday extended by two days the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the agency on Sunday in connection with the alleged irregularities in the city government’s Excise Policy 2021-22.

ED and the CBI are separately probing the 2021-22 excise policy. While the ED is probing allegations of money laundering in framing and implementing the regime, the CBI probe is focused on alleged irregularities while the policy was being framed that allowed the “cartelisation” of the liquor business in Delhi.