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Four not part of administration helped frame Delhi's excise policy: CBI FIR
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the excise minister, as well as 14 other named individuals, have been named in the FIR.
New Delhi: At least four people who were not part of the administration were “actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation” of the excise policy, the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) FIR in the investigation into the city’s liquor policy states, citing unidentified sources that tipped off the agency.
This allegation is among many that the first information report (FIR) mentions, naming Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the excise minister, as well as 14 other named individuals. It was on the basis of these allegations that the agency raided Sisodia’s residence and dozens of other locations on Friday, setting off a major confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AAP and Sisodia have denied the allegations, calling them a ploy by the BJP in power at the Centre to harass political rivals.
Also Read: Excise policy ‘best’, says Delhi deputy CM Sisodia as BJP pins blame on Kejriwal
The FIR, registered at 3.30pm on August 17, or roughly 40 hours before agents descended on Sisodia’s home for searches that went on for over 14 hours, lists the senior AAP leader as accused number 1, and invokes sections of the law dealing with criminal conspiracy, falsification of accounts, and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The FIR is based on a complaint by a senior Union home ministry official, who cited the note received from Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena, who himself had cited a report by the chief secretary finding purported irregularities.
The FIR accused the officials – Sisodia (the excise minister), Arva Gopi Krishna (former commissioner of excise), Anand Tiwari (former deputy commissioner of excise), Pankaj Bhatnagar (assistant commissioner of excise) – of being “instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to the excise policy for 2021-22 without approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender”.
At least four private individuals, the agency said citing sources, were “actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation” of the excise policy. The agency’s unidentified source also said that these accused were in touch with the accused government officials, and were also involved in monetary transactions.
Also Read: CBI questions accused who played ‘active role’ in Delhi excise policy
The agency FIR mentioned the names of four men -- Vijay Nair, former CEO of event management company Only Much Louder, Manoj Rai, a former employee of liquor maker Pernod Ricard, Amandeep Dhall, owner of liquor distributor Brindco Spirits and Sameer Mahendru, owner of distribution company S Indo Spirits.
The agency, citing information from its “source”, contends that some L1 licence holders – wholesale liquor traders from whom retailers procure – were issuing “credit notes to retail vendors with an intention to divert funds as undue pecuniary advantage” to government officials.
“In furtherance to this, they are showing false entries in their books of accounts to keep their record straight,” the FIR said.
To link the impropriety to the deputy CM, the agency says accused number 9, Amit Arora director of Buddy Retail Private Limited based in Gurugram, and one Arjun Pandey were “close associates” of Sisodia.
The CBI said that the two men were “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees to the accused public servants.”
It again quoted the “source” as informing the agency that accused Sameer Mahendru had transferred an amount of ₹1 crore to a UCO bank account of M/S Radha Industries, which is managed by accused Dinesh Arora. Arora, a resident of Gujranwala Town in North Delhi, is accused number 11.
The source, according to the FIR, also named Arun Ramachandra Pillai, a Karnataka resident who collected the “undue pecuniary advantage” from Mahendru and sent it to public servants through Vijay Nair (former CEO of M/S Only Much Louder). According to the FIR, a person named Arjun Pandey, a resident of Gurugram had received ₹2-4 crore from Mahendru on Nair’s behalf.
The CBI’s FIR includes lieutenant governor VK Saxena’s letter dated July 20 to Union home secretary, Ajay Bhalla, recommending a CBI probe. In his letter, Saxena attached a report by the Delhi chief secretary who contended that the policy was drawn up in violation of protocols.
It is on the basis of this report that the LG first flagged what he said were problems in the policy.
