Delhi excise case: Court to hear liquor giant exec's bail plea on January 19

A Delhi court will hear on January 19 the bail application of liquor giant Pernod Ricard's executive, Benoy Babu, arrested in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam also involving Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Special Judge M K Nagpal, who was scheduled to hear the arguments on Babu's bail application on Monday, adjourned the matter on pleas made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well as the advocate appearing for the accused.

In its order, the judge also noted that the prosecution complaint (ED's equivalent to a charge sheet) against Babu, as well as against some other co-accused, had been filed before the court and the court was yet to take cognisance of the documents.

ED is investigation the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped liquor policy of the Delhi government.

"Bail application of the accused is fixed for arguments today. However, prosecution complaint qua him, as well as against some other co-accused, stands filed before this court now and Counsel representing the accused submits that they are in the process of inspecting records of the said complaint and documents filed in support thereof. Hence, some time is being requested for addressing arguments on the application. As jointly requested, list the application now on January 19, 2023 for arguments," the judge said.

The ED had on January 6 filed a supplementary charge sheet against five individuals and seven companies in the case.

The ED, however, did not name Sisodia as accused in the case, and told the judge that further investigation is going on in the mater.

The individuals named in the charge sheet are Vijay Nair, Sharath Reddy, Binoy Babu, Abhishek Boinpally and Amit Arora.

The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR that had also named Sisodia as an accused, among others. The CBI had raided the premises of the deputy chief minister and some Delhi government bureaucrats after filing the case.

The excise scheme came under the scanner after the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. The LG had also suspended 11 excise officials.