Delhi liquor policy: WhatsApp chats, call records evidence in ED charge sheet

The AAP has rejected the ED’s charges. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday described them as “pure fiction”, and said the agency was being used by the ruling Bharatiya Janaya Party (BJP) “to make and break governments”

WhatsApp chats, call data records (CDR), emails, statements by key Delhi government officials including deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s secretary C Arvind, disclosures by wholesalers and retailers regarding crucial conspiracy meetings, hotel records, files of excise department and bank statements of investment trail, etc, have been cited as evidence by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case to allege formation of cartels and payment of kickbacks to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalize the city’s flagging liquor business. It wanted to replace a sales-volume based regime with a licence fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. (Representative image/HT Archive)

The AAP has rejected the ED’s charges. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday described them as “pure fiction”, and said the agency was being used by the ruling Bharatiya Janaya Party (BJP) “to make and break governments”.

For instance, citing accused businessman Sameer Mahendru’s statement, recorded on September 6 last year, ED has claimed that there were several meetings at Oberoi hotel in Delhi with the representatives of alleged South Group “wherein agenda was to discuss investments in Delhi liquor business”. These meetings were also attended by AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, accused-turned-approver Dinesh Arora, among others, the charge sheet said.

According to Mahendru’s statement, which is part of ED charge sheet, his first meeting with Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai and Buchi Babu (these three allegedly represented the South Group), was on a zoom call initiated by Nair in which latter said, “Arun (Pillai) and his group was keen on investing in Delhi business, and that this group had deep pockets, political connections and were friends of Arvind Kejriwal.”

Reacting to the ED claims, Kejriwal on Thursday said the federal agency has filed over 5,000 charge sheets but hardly anyone has been convicted. “All the cases of ED are fake. They are used to make and break governments. ED does not file case against corruption. ED files cases to buy MLA (s) and break governments. This ED charge sheet is pure fiction,” the Delhi chief minister added.

The ‘South Group’ allegedly comprises YSR Congress MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), and K Kavitha (daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao), and it allegedly controlled nine out of 32 retail liquor zones in Delhi as part of a “super cartel” formed with Mahendru, the agency said.

Mahendru has further disclosed that Nair told him that the new excise policy was the brainchild of Kejriwal. This is when, to verify Nair’s clout, Mahendru had asked to meet Kejriwal but when the meeting could not fructify, a FaceTime call was arranged by Nair. ED has claimed in the charge sheet that Kejriwal told Mahendru during this video call that “Vijay is his boy and that he should trust him”.

When Mahendru’s file was cleared by the excise department, he was sitting at excise office and Dinesh Arora and Arun Pillai were sitting at Oberoi hotel waiting for the news. “The same is confirmed by the CDR location mapping done for Arun Pillai and Arora, who on November 5, 2021 (the day Indo Spirits was granted licence), was at Oberoi hotel”, ED says in the charge sheet.

The charge sheet said that the alleged “South Group” gave ₹100 crore in advance to Nair and they were supposed to recover this money from three major distributors – Indo Spirits, Brindco and Mahadev. According to Arora’s statement, the partnership between the South Group and Vijay Nair (for AAP) was planned to continue for remaining 3.5 years of AAP rule in Delhi, the agency said.

Without divulging the date, ED has also said that Dinesh Arora met K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana chief minister K C Rao, “twice”. “Agenda of the meeting that took place at Oberoi Maidens, Delhi, wherein Dinesh (Arora), Vijay Nair, Arun Pillai, and K Kavitha were present, was to discuss Delhi liquor business and the issue of recovery of advance kickbacks paid to Vijay Nair,” ED adds, citing Arora’s statement dated October 3, 2022.

To establish that Dinesh Arora had received ₹31 crore kickbacks out of ₹100 crore from the South Group on behalf of Nair, ED has cited call details records of Arora, which showed that he was in touch with two persons – Rajesh Joshi and Lupin, who allegedly handled delivery of cash. ED has alleged that part of the kickbacks was used in Goa election campaign of AAP in 2022.

BRS MLA K Kavitha has termed the allegations against her in the Delhi excise policy as “bogus” and termed it the BJP’s “political vendetta”.

“The allegations against me are totally bogus and false. Only time will provide my sincerity. It is political vendetta against me by the BJP as the TRS government in Telangana has exposed their anti-people policies,” she tweeted on December 22.

YSRCP MP Reddy said he has no role to play in the matter. “It’s a conspiracy by north Indians,” he said on December 1.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalize the city’s flagging liquor business. It wanted to replace a sales-volume based regime with a license fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.

The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommending a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.