Sisodia is accused no. 1 among 16 named in an FIR registered by CBI on August 17 to probe Delhi’s liquor licensing scam. Some top officials of the Delhi’s Excise department, including Arva Gopi Krishna, the then excise commissioner, his deputy Anand Tiwari and assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are the others who have been under ED’s scanner.
The ED’s investigation, based on a CBI FIR, has been initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is directed at establishing the money trail between the alleged beneficiaries of the scam and their “political masters”.
According to the initial information received by the agencies, hundreds of crores in “proceeds of crime” have changed hands in the past six months.
The ED has been studying the pricing mechanism and the benefit accrued to liquor retailers in the capital as a result of the state government’s excise policy. The policy was withdrawn by the Arvind Kejriwal government soon after the CBI registered an FIR.
According to the FIR, Sisodia was assisted in “framing and implementation of the excise policy of Delhi for 2021-22” by liquor dealers and middlemen. CBI has named Vijay Nair, a Mumbai-based ex-CEO of an event management company, as a conduit who allegedly passed on illicit gains (proceeds of crime) from the liquor businesses to public servants and politicians.
The agency has identified Gurgaon resident Arjun Pandey as another close associate of Manish Sisodia and accused him of being “involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary gains collected from liquor licencees to accused public servants”.
The ED is in the process of identifying the proceeds of crime and establishing a money trail between politicians and middlemen, including Vijay Nair and Arjun Pandey. Liquor retailer Sameer Mahendru, MD of Indo Spirits, is another prime accused in the case.
On August 19, CBI had searched the residence of Sisodia besides the premises of other officials allegedly involved in the scam. Sisodia holds multiple portfolios in the Kejriwal government, including education, health, PWD and excise.
The Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22 was implemented in November last year. After a series of complaints, Delhi’s Lt Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry in July into the alleged irregularities.
“Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard, Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indo Spirits are actively involved in irregularities in the framing and implementation of excise policy of Delhi,” CBI had said.
