GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 8th Oct. According to official sources, the Enforcement Directorate seized about Rs 1 crore in cash during raids conducted in connection with a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
The searches began on Friday at about 35 locations across Delhi-NCR, Punjab, and Telangana’s capital, Hyderabad.
According to sources, approximately a crore in cash was seized from a location during raids conducted against liquor businessmen, distribution companies, and related entities.
Some digital devices and documents were also seized, they said, without specifying where they were found.
ED officials also searched the residences of a director of a Delhi-based TV news organization who is also on the board of a Telugu daily, a city-based businessman whose company imports and distributes various alcoholic beverages, and a former Punjab MLA, they said.
The federal agency has conducted over 103 raids in this case to date, and Sameer Mahandru, a liquor businessman and managing director of Indospirit, was arrested last month.
The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was named as one of the accused, among others.
After Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22, the scheme came under scrutiny.
In the same case, he had suspended 11 excise officials.
The ED has questioned AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak and minister Satyendar Jain, both of whom are being held in Tihar Jail, while the CBI has questioned several people and arrested businessman Vijay Nair.
According to officials, the CBI investigation was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary’s report, which showed prima facie violations of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010.
While reacting to the ED raids on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that hundreds of raids by central agencies to find evidence against Sisodia yielded nothing because he did nothing wrong.
The time of hundreds of ED and CBI sleuths is being squandered for “dirty politics,” he claims.
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