A liquor trader paid Rs 1 crore to a company managed by an associate of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has claimed in its FIR on alleged corruption in the framing and implementation of the excise policy 2021-22.
The agency, which carried out raids at Sisodia's official residence in central Delhi and 20 other locations in seven states and Union territories on Friday, named 15 people in its FIR registered on August 17 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In addition to Sisodia, who also holds the excise portfolio, the CBI has named as accused then Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, then Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Kumar Tiwari, Assistant Excise Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, nine businessmen and two companies.
The FIR was registered on a reference from the office of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena routed through the Union Home Ministry.
'Close Associates of Sisodia Helped in the Scam': CBI
The agency has alleged Amit Arora, Director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurgaon, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey are "close associates" of Sisodia and were "actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees" for the accused public servants.
The CBI has alleged that Radha Industries managed by Dinesh Arora received Rs 1 crore from Sameer Mahendru of Indospirits.
"Source further revealed that Arun Ramchandra Pillai used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Sameer Mahendru for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Nair.
A person named Arjun Pandey has once collected a huge cash amount of about Rs 2-4 crore from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair," it said.
The agency alleged that Sunny Marwah's Mahadev Liquors was granted L-1 licence under the policy. It also alleged that Marwah, who was on the board of firms of the dead liquor baron Ponty Chadha, was in close contact with the accused public servants and regularly paid bribes to them.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)