Excise police case: Delhi court extends Arun Pillai’s ED custody till March 20

ED submitted before the court that during the three days extension which was previously granted, Pillai was confronted with the documents that were called for from a hotel where he stayed and with Butchibabu Gorantla, another accused in the case

A Delhi Court on Thursday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Arun Ramchandra Pillai by four days for questioning in connection with its ongoing probe into the Delhi excise policy case.

Pillai is one of the accused in the money laundering case in the excise policy scam (Representative Photo)

The Hyderabad-based businessman is one of the accused in the money laundering case, which stems from the investigation being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the now-scrapped liquor excise policy.

Pillai, who had been earlier charge sheeted by the CBI in the case and was granted bail by the Rouse Avenue court, was arrested by ED on March 6.

Delhi Rouse Avenue court, while extending the custodial remand, observed that the accused is further required for effective investigation in the matter and thus shall remain under EDs’ remand till March 20.

ED submitted before the court that during the three days extension which was previously granted, Pillai was confronted with the documents that were called for from a hotel where he stayed and with Butchibabu Gorantla, another accused in the case.

ED also submitted that they called Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha on Thursday, who is also being probed by the agency, to join the investigation, but she did not appear and instead sent a letter through her authorised representative.

ED also submitted that they asked Andhra Pradesh MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy to join the investigation in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy case.

ED thus sought five days extension submitting that Pillai is to be confronted with both Kavitha as well as Reddy.

Against the ED application, advocate Manu Sharma, appearing for Pillai, submitted before the court that the probe agency is abusing the process of law and is “in violation of the established laws in the Delhi High Court Rules.”

He pointed out that the investigating officer (IO) should have drawn an effective schedule to utilise the previous period of ED custody as the confrontations with documents and persons is a never-ending process.

The court thus also observed that by then (March 20), all the confrontations shall be over, and the period shall be effectively utilised.

The court also took on record the application submitted by Pillai seeking a retraction of the statements that he had given to the ED, along with the ED’s reply to the application.

It noted that the evidentiary value of the facts disclosed or stated in the statements of the accused recorded by IO under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) or the circumstances under which these facts have been disclosed or stated will be a matter of trial.

Pillai was first produced before the Delhi court on March 7 when he was sent to six days of ED custody. He was again produced on March 13, when his custody was extended for three days.