Excise Case: "Allegation of bribe is baseless, without any material..." argues Sarath Reddy
Jan 20, 2023
New Delhi [India], January 20 : Businessman Sarath Reddy through Senior Lawyer Kapil Sibal on Friday while arguing for his bail, stated that the allegation of a Rs 100 crore bribe is baseless and without any material.
Reddy was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 money laundering case.
Reddy's lawyer argued that there is no evidence as regards the generation of the aforesaid amount. Even CBI investigating the predicate offence in the chargesheet has alleged a bribe amount of Rs. 20-30 crores but there is no allegation even in the CBI chargesheet against me.
While replying to ED allegations that Sarath Reddy and others led the South Group cartel and gave kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 Cr to Vijay Nair who was managing this scheme and conspiracy on behalf of AAP leaders, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Sarath's alleged that during interrogation, ED used force on employees of TCL to sign pre-dictated statements.
The lawyer for Reddy also submitted that the statements relied upon by the Prosecution agency are even not disclose any offence against Sharath Reddy. Except for the oral evidence collected in the form of statements, there is no other evidence to show the commission of the offence, added Lawyer
The Special Judge MK Nagpal on Friday after hearing the matter at length fixed the matter for January 25, 2023, for hearing on arguements on bail of the other accused Binoy Babu. The court on Friday concluded the arguements on Sharath Reddy's bail petition. Earlier the court concluded the arguements on AAP Vijay Nair, Buisenessmen Sameer Mahandru and Abhishek Boinpally in the same matter.
Reddy is the head of a Hederabad-based Aurobindo Pharma company and is engaged in the liquor business, said the ED in court earlier.
While arguing against Sarath Reddy, ED submitted that it is amply evident that, he had actively planned and conspired with various business owners and politicians and indulged in unfair market practices to gain undue advantage in the Delhi Excise Policy, 2021-22. Applicant led a nexus controlling a huge market share by way of cartelization in clear contravention of objectives of Delhi Excise Policy.
Among the accused in the case are Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Other accused are Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; director of Buddy Retail Amit Arora, and Dinesh Arora; authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
