On 10 November 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested P Sarath Chandra Reddy, the director of Aurobindo Pharma, in connection with its money laundering case into alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s liquor policy. Five days later, on 15 November, Aurobindo Pharma donated electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore.
Then, in May 2023, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Reddy on medical grounds. A month later, in June 2023, the ED moved a plea before the court to pardon Reddy, and for him to be made an ‘approver’ in the case— meaning that he would voluntarily disclose all the irregularities in the policy. The Rouse Avenue court accepted the plea. Aurobindo Pharma then made another set of donations—worth Rs 25 Crore—in November 2023, five months after becoming an approver in the ED case.
This is the timeline that has emerged on a close study of the State Bank of India (SBI) electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday.