A court here on Monday sent businessman Dinesh Arora to judicial custody for two weeks in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise scam.
Arora was declared an approver on November 16 in a corruption case related to the alleged scam being probed by the CBI.
Special Judge M K Nagpal sent Arora to jail till July 31 after he was produced before the court on the expiry of his custodial interrogation granted earlier.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court he was not required for further interrogation, but claimed that if released, he may tamper with the evidence, influence the witnesses, or flee from justice.
After the court passed the order, the accused moved a bail application in the matter.
The court has sought response from the ED on Arora’s application by July 25, when it will hear arguments on the plea.
Arora was arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on July 6 after a long session of questioning.
The ED said he was evasive in his replies and was not cooperating with the agency following which he was arrested.
Arora was allegedly a close associate of Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who is also an accused in the excise policy case and has been arrested by the ED as well as the CBI.
The ED, in a supplementary charge sheet, has accused Sisodia of receiving bribes from Amit Arora, another businessman who is also an accused in the case, through Dinesh Arora. The federal probe agency has described this bribe amount as “proceeds of crime” under the PMLA.
“Amit Arora paid Rs 2.2 crore to Manish Sisodia through Dinesh Arora for getting policy changes in his favour in the GoM report/excise policy 2021-22. This amount is directly a bribe/kickback to a government functionary and is proceeds of crime under section 2(1)(u) of PMLA, 2002. In this manner, Manish Sisodia participated in the generation of this proceeds of crime,” the ED said in its prosecution complaint filed in May.
Amit Arora is the promoter of liquor companies — Buddy Retail Pvt Ltd, Popular Spirits and KSJM Spirits LLP.
It is probably the first instance where an accused-turned-approver (prosecution witness) in the CBI investigation has been arrested by the ED while the two federal agencies probed the cases linked to the same scam.
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The ED’s money laundering case stems from the predicate offence registered by the CBI. If the CBI case falls, the money laundering case too will not stand, as per a Supreme Court order of last year where it issued a number of directives while interpreting PMLA provisions.
Dinesh Arora is the 13th person who has been arrested in this case by the ED in which the probe agency has filed five charge sheets, including against Sisodia.
The ED and the CBI have alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it. The ruling AAP in Delhi has strongly refuted the charge.
The excise policy was scrapped after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the corruption allegation. Following this, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
