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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi Excise scam.
The bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna pronounced the order and granted him bail in the case. Pillai, a Hyderabad-based businessman and alleged close aide of another accused, K Kavitha, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March 2023. Recently, the Supreme Court granted bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Kavitha. Pillai was represented by Advocate Nitesh Rana and Advocate Deepak Nagar in the matter. He is accused of receiving bribes from Sameer Mahendru, Managing Director of Indospirit, and handing them over to other accused individuals. The ED's chargesheet alleged that Pillai gave false statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the investigation. It also claimed he destroyed or changed five mobile phones over two years, and did not produce the phones he used during the scam. Furthermore, chats involving Pillai found on other individuals' phones were missing from his own, suggesting deliberate destruction of evidence, the ED said. The case pertains to the investigation initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding alleged corruption related to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution. The ED and the CBI have alleged 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. As alleged, the Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19. This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer. (ANI)
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