Excise case: Delhi Court extends ED remand of Chariot Media owner Rajesh Joshi

New Delhi [India], February 13 : The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Monday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand of Rajesh Joshi, owner of Chariot Production Media Pvt Ltd till February 20 in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 money laundering case.
Joshi was arrested by the ED last week following questioning and evidence against him showing his involvement in the case.
Special Judge MK Nagpal on Monday extended the period of his remand to confront some witnesses and documents.
According to ED, Joshi was one of the beneficiaries of kickback money that originated out of the 'tweaked' policy which favoured 'liquor lobbies'.
He allegedly laundered and distributed money and spent huge amounts of money received on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the campaign during the Goa elections.
The federal agency also arrested Punjab-based businessman Gautam Malhotra, son of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Deep Malhotra, in the case.
Gautam, the director of liquor manufacturing and distribution firm OASIS Group, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of money laundering. He is accused of cartelisation in the Delhi Excise policy case.
Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also arrested a Hyderabad-based chartered accountant, understood to be the auditor of Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC K Kavitha.
Other accused named 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.
Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey are some more accused in the case.
The agency last year filed its first chargesheet before a court in the national capital in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case naming liquor businessman Sameer Mahandru as one of the accused.
The agency said it has so far undertaken nearly 200 search operations in this case after filing FIR after taking cognisance of a CBI case which was registered on the recommendation of the Delhi lieutenant governor.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary's report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials had said.
A total of five people have been arrested by the ED in this case till now, excluding Arora. Mahandru was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 27 following his questioning.
In October, the ED had raided nearly three dozen locations in Delhi and Punjab following the arrest of Sameer Mahendru, Managing Director of Delhi's Jor Bagh-based liquor distributor Indospirit Group, in the case.
The CBI too filed its first charge sheet in the case early this week.
The ED and the CBI have alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and 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.
An alleged, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, waiver on tendered licence fee was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022 due to COVID-19.
This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.