Excise case: Delhi court allows second accused to turn approver
Sarath Reddy is the second person to turn approver in the case after Dinesh Arora, an alleged aide of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia
A Delhi court has allowed businessman P Sarath Chandra Reddy to turn approver for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy 2021-22.
“Sarath Chandra Reddy has turned approver and granted pardon vide order May 29,” special judge MK Nagpal said in his order of May 29.
In his application, Sarath Reddy had said, “I am ready to make true disclosure voluntarily about the case and want to be an approver in the case.”
Sarath Reddy is the second person to turn approver in the case after Dinesh Arora, an alleged aide of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, had turned approver in November 2022 for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a parallel case in connection with the excise policy.
According to ED, Sarath Reddy heads the Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma company and was also engaged in liquor business. The federal anti-money laundering agency alleged that he led a nexus controlling a huge market share by way of cartelisation in clear contravention of the objectives of the excise policy.
ED earlier told the court that Sarath Reddy actively planned and conspired with various business owners and politicians involved in the alleged scam, and indulged in unfair market practices to gain undue advantage from the excise policy.
AAP has consistently denied all allegations and alleged that the cases are a result of “politcal vendetta”.
According to an ED charge sheet filed on May 4, Sarath Reddy was present in a meeting with members of the alleged “South Group” in early 2002 — Indo Spirits owner Sameer Mahendru, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) member of legislative council K Kavitha at the latter’s house in Hyderabad. Other businessmen, including Arun Pillai and Abhishek Boinpally were also present, the agency claimed.
“In that meeting, Kavitha said to Sameer (Mahendru) that Arun (Pillai) is like family to her and doing business with Arun is doing business with Kavitha and that they will take this relationship to a larger scale in multiple states and expand majorly,” the charge sheet said.
A Delhi court took cognisance of the charge sheet on May 30.
The charge sheet also mentioned that Sisodia had “actively, directly assisted in the generation of proceeds of crime of ₹60 crore and ₹4.35 crore, which is the outstanding payment from the entities of Sarath Reddy to Indo Spirits, and excess credit notes issued to retail zones of Sarath Reddy were ways for South Group to recoup the kickbacks paid to Sisodia and other AAP leaders.”
Speaking about the importance of Sarath Reddy turning approver, an ED official, declining to be named, said, “As an approver, he can provide crucial evidence against certain accused persons from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh including K Kavitha, kickbacks and other details from the meetings which he was part of.”
In the charge sheet, ED has also claimed that Sisodia received kickbacks through his aide Dinesh Arora from Amit Arora to favour the latter in the excise policy. The charge sheet, which cites Amit Arora’s statements, also has several references to AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh.
The AAP on Thursday dismissed the charges and raised doubts on Amit Arora’s statements, referring to him as Bharatiya Janata Party leader.
The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales-volume based regime with a licence fee-based one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience.
The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommending a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime.
On February 26, CBI arrested Sisodia in connection with the case, and the AAP leader was arrested by ED after a nine-hour long interrogation on March 9.
ED has so far filed five charge sheets in the case.