NEW DELHI: A special court at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue on Friday, sent businessman Dinesh Arora, an accused declared prosecution witness in a case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam being probed by the CBI, to Enforcement Directorate’s custody for four days in a money laundering case linked to the matter.
The ED which is tracing the laundering route of the kickback money generated in the scam had arrested Arora on Thursday evening. The agency plans to interrogate him in custody for further investigation and corroboration of facts and evidence collected during the probe so far.
Arora was earlier questioned by the ED which is tracking the tail of the kickback money that originated out of the ‘tweaked’ policy that favoured ‘liquor lobbies’ - particularly the South Group, and was allegedly laundered by various middlemen to bribe government officials and politicians of Aam Aadmi Party. The policy was drafted and implemented by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has been charged by both CBI and ED and is currently in Tihar Jail.
Dinesh Arora a known name in Delhi’s F&B circuits and alleged to be a close aide of Sisodia was closely associated with the AAP and was actively involved in “managing” and “diverting” the illegal kickbacks from liquor traders – referred to as South Group traders, who benefitted from the Delhi Excise policy that was allegedly tweaked in their favour. While the traders got windfall gains Delhi government lost huge revenues to the tune of Rs 2873 crores due to the alleged tweaks in the policy.
The ED in January had attached Arora’s assets, valued at Rs 3.18 crore, including his popular restaurants like ‘Chica’, ‘La Roca’, ‘Unplugged Courtyard’, in Delhi NCR, on allegations of investments made from the kickbacks he received from the Delhi Excise scam.
