A local court in the national capital has summoned liquor trader Sameer Mahandru in a case related to the Delhi Excise Policy, registered and being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Special CBI Judge at Rouse Avenue Court M.K. Nagpal observed that after perusing both oral and documentary evidence, it became clear that the accused, including Sameer Mahandru, M/s Khao Gali Restaurants Pvt Ltd, M/s Bubbly Beverages Pvt Ltd, Indo Spirits and M/s Indospirit Distribution Ltd, were either directly or indirectly involved in generation, concealment or possession of the proceeds of crime alleged in the case.
Stating that there was sufficient ground to proceed further in the matter against the five accused, the Judge directed them to appear and face trial before this court for the offence, although some further investigation with regard to other persons/entities involved in the case and to trace out the balance proceeds of crime was still stated to be pending.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a case against the accused on November 26 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case related to alleged irregularities in framing and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, 2021-22. This was done on the basis of a complaint filed by Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena on July 20, 2022.
CBI had registered an FIR against 15 people, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Excise Minister of the national capital, along with some officials of the Excise department.
The first information report alleged that the accused, in connivance with other unidentified and unnamed persons/entities, hatched a criminal conspiracy during the formulation stage of the Excise Policy. Some loopholes were allegedly left intentionally or created in the Policy, to be exploited later in terms of favouring some licensees and conspirators in the post-bid period.
As per the case, kickbacks were reportedly paid by people in the liquor business from South India to some public servants of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and to Delhi’s Excise department, in order to achieve the objective of monopoly and cartelisation among liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers by violating its provisions.
It said that kickbacks were reportedly going to be returned to the people from ‘South’ either through out of profit margins of the wholesalers or by way of credit notes issued by the wholesalers to the retail vends owned or controlled by those belonging to the Southern part of the country.
The FIR stated that Mahandru was ‘actively’ involved not only in the kickbacks, but also in the formation of both cartelisation and monopoly. This resulted in loss of Rs 2,873 crore to the exchequer, said the ED.