Excise scam: Delhi court grants pre-arrest bail to Magunta Raghava Reddy in CBI case

Special Judge MK Nagpal on Thursday allowed Raghav Magunta's bail plea and directed him to furnish a bail bond of Rs one lakh with a like amount of surety.

While granting bail, the Court noted that the applicant, Raghava, was not named specifically as an accused in the FIR of the case, nor is any entity pertaining to him or his family members stated to have been named.

As per the reply filed by the CBI, he has also cooperated in the investigation of the case and has joined it as and when he was summoned for the said purpose. Further, he is also being stated to have disclosed some vital facts in his statements recorded under U.S. 161 Cr.P.C. and 164(2) Cr.P.C., noted the Court.

During the course of the investigation, which is even relevant for the ongoing further investigation,. It is further stated in the above reply that no instance of influencing any witness in this case by the applicant has also been found. Hence, CBI has not opposed the request made by the applicant for the grant of anticipatory bail to him, said the Court.

Raghav Magunta recently became the approver in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. The court had also pardoned him in the case while allowing his plea to be approved.

Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Arora had earlier been the approver in the case. The court had declared Arora to be an approver in the same case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Magunta Raghava Reddy, the son of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party's (YSRCP) MP from Ongole, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 10 in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.

ED earlier stated that Raghav Magunta is one of the key people in the conspiracy of cartelization and kickbacks hatched along with various persons in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 scam. Raghav Magunta is the owner of liquor manufacturing units in the name of M/s Enrica Enterprises Private Limited, located in Chennai.

He further controlled two retail zones in the name of M/s Magunta Agro Farms Pvt Ltd directly in contravention of the Excise Policy 2021-22, where a manufacturer was not permitted to hold either retail or wholesale operations. Raghav, being part of the South Group, was part of and beneficiary of the conspiracy in which the South Group paid Rs. 100 crore, approx., to the AAP, said ED.

Last year, the ED and the CBI registered cases alleging that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection. (ANI)