The Enforcement Directorate said before a local court on Friday that businessman Dinesh Arora, a CBI witness in the Delhi excise policy case, was “one of the main conspirators” in this alleged fraud and was acting on behalf of AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Vijay Nair. After extensive interrogation, the federal authorities apprehended Arora late on Thursday night. On Friday, it took him into custody of the ED till July 11 after bringing him before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court presided over by Judge MK Nagpal.
Dinesh Arora, who was working for Manish Sisodia and Vijay Nair, the AAP’s media coordinator, was one of the primary conspirators in the Delhi excise policy scandal. He is a close friend of Manish Sisodia and other well-known AAP leaders. “On the directions of Manish Sisodia, Dinesh Arora connected with Vijay Nair and became part of the Delhi excise scam-related conspiracy and consequent acts of money laundering,” the ED claimed in its request for Arora’s remand.
The allegations of misconduct against Sisodia in the creation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–2022 have been vehemently denied by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The ED and the CBI, the two main federal agencies looking into this case against the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP in Delhi and a number of other politicians, businesspeople, and bureaucrats, have both detained Sisodia and Nair.
On November 16 of the previous year, a Delhi court granted the CBI’s request to pardon Dinesh Arora and appoint him an approver in the case. While the two federal agencies investigated the same case, it is likely uncommon or the first time that an accused-turned-approver (prosecution witness) has been detained by the ED.
The predicate offense reported by the CBI is the source of the money laundering case brought by the ED. According to a Supreme Court judgment from last year, when it provided a variety of guidelines while interpreting PMLA rules, if the CBI case is dismissed, the money laundering case would also be dismissed. In its remand document, the agency also said that Arora was “directly” engaged in the transfer of kickbacks worth Rs 31 crore from the South organization to Vijay Nair and in helping the organization recover Rs 100 crore.
The South Group is an alleged alcohol cartel that includes, among others, YSRCP MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and his son Raghav Magunta, as well as Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Arora “actively participated in coercing an L1 (liquor company) into surrendering, with the approval and sanction of the top leaders of AAP/Vijay Nair, who were not paying kickbacks as desired by the AAP leaders.” The agency stated that “proceeds of crime” of at least Rs. 45.62 crore were created as a result of the alleged conspiracy by Arora and others, and he was also involved in the “generation, transfer, and concealment” of these funds.
It said that despite the fact that the investigating officer had recorded Arora’s testimony on ten separate occasions starting in September of last year, he had “not revealed” the whole truth and was refusing to cooperate with the inquiry with his “evasive” responses. In order to uncover this multi-million dollar swindle and track the profits of crime, Dinesh Arora must be questioned under judicial supervision, according to the investigation agency.
The ED has made 13 arrests in this matter, including Sisodia, and has so far submitted five charge sheets. Dinesh Arora is the latest of them. According to claims made by the ED and the CBI, the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021–2022, which granted licenses to liquor merchants, encouraged cartelization and favored certain dealers who were reportedly paid bribes to do so. The accusation has been categorically denied by Delhi’s governing Aam Aadmi Party.
After Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena suggested a CBI investigation after the corruption charge, the excise scheme was abandoned. In response, the ED filed a case under the PMLA.
