ED raids 35 spots in 3 states as part of liquor policy probe

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted more than 103 raids in this case till now and had also arrested Sameer Mahandru, a liquor businessman and managing director of liquor manufacturing company Indospirit last month in the case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at 35 locations in Delhi, Punjab and Hyderabad, in connection with its money-laundering probe into the Capital’s now-scrapped 2021-22 excise policy.

Security personnel stand guard during an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at the residence of Brindco Sales Limited Director Amandeep Dhall, Okhla industrial area in New Delhi, Friday. (PTI)

The raids, according to officials aware of the matter, came after leads that emerged from the agency’s interrogation of Delhi-based businessman Sameer Mahendru, who was named as one of 16 accused in an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case. He was arrested by ED on September 29.

The searches were wrapped up late on Friday evening.

Over the past one month, ED has searched several places linked to liquor dealers, businessmen, and distilleries in Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh as part of their investigations into alleged irregularities in the liquor policy.

The now-scrapped policy was meant to prevent cartelisation, but investigators are looking at links between manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, with some sharing directors, HT reported on September 15.

On Friday, Kejriwal said agencies are “not able to find any evidence” in the case “because there is none”.

“More than 500 raids have been conducted by CBI and ED by around 300 officers who are working round-the-block to find evidence against Manish Sisodia. They are unable to find any evidence because there is none. For political reasons, time and resources are being wasted,” he tweeted.

ED’s probe is based on a CBI first information report (FIR), registered on August 17, against Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari, and assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar and nine private persons , Dinesh Arora, Vijay Nair, Manoj Rai, the former vice president of liquor maker Pernod Ricard, Sameer Mahendru, managing director of Jor Bagh-based Indospirit Group, a distributor, Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd, a wholesaler, Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Private Ltd, a retailer, Sunny Marwah of Mahadev Liquors, a trading firm, and also director in Ponty Chadha group firms, Gurugram resident Arjun Pandey, and Telangana-based individual Arun Ramchandra Pillai.

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

Two arrests have been made in the case so far.

First, on September 27, CBI arrested Vijay Nair, former CEO of Mumbai-based event management firm, Only Much Louder. Nair is also a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which governs Delhi. Mahendru was arrested two days later.

Delhi’s new excise policy was introduced in November, 2021 when the government exited the retail liquor business. It ran into controversy this July when Delhi lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the policy.

CBI conducted raids at Sisodia’s residence in August, in connection with their probe in the matter.

The AAP has denied all allegations, saying the charges are vague and the controversy is meant to derail the party’s growing popularity nationwide.

ED is probing if alleged irregularities were done in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy and if alleged proceeds of crime, in terms of tainted money, were generated by the accused.

Officials aware of the matter said ED on Friday conducted raids in Hyderabad at locations associated with Arun Ramachandran Pillai. He could not be contacted for comment.

In CBI’s FIR, Pillai has been accused of collecting “undue pecuniary advantages” from Mahendru. These, the FIR said, were then sent to accused government officials through Nair.

In Punjab, raids were carried out at places linked with liquor baron and former Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, including at his residence in Faridkot.

Separate teams conducted searches in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Faridkot. Malhotra, who was elected to the state assembly in 2012 reportedly runs a liquor business in Punjab. ED officials in Punjab confirmed that raids were also conducted at the premises owned or managed by Amandeep Dhall.

ED also searched premises associated with Brindco Sales, run by Dhall, in south-east Delhi’s Okhla. Calls and text messages to Malhotra and Dhall seeking comment on the matter went unanswered.