A Delhi Court sent Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand till March 13 in connection with its ongoing probe in Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 money laundering case.
Pillai was arrested late on Monday night following his day-long questioning by the ED officials in the case here in the national capital. The agency has so far arrested 11 persons in the case.
Pillai's arrest comes close on the heels of the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia's arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case.
He is among the other accused named in the case along with 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 and Arjun Pandey are some more accused in the case.
The Enforcement Directorate, last week, arrested liquor businessman Amandeep Dhall in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Last Thursday, Dhall, owner of Brindco Sales PrivThe Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday sent liquor businessman Amandeep Dhal to Judicial Custody till March 21 in connection with the case.
It is alleged that he was part of the conspiracy to formulate and implement an excise policy that extended favours to liquor manufacturers and distributors.
In February, the federal agency also arrested Rajesh Joshi, owner of Chariot Production Media Pvt Ltd, in the case.
Last month, the agency arrested Punjab-based businessman Gautam Malhotra, son of former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, in the case.
As per the allegations, 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, a waiver on tendered licence fees 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.
( With inputs from ANI )
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