NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to liquor giant Pernod Ricard’s executive Benoy Babu in a money laundering case arising out of the Delhi excise policy scam. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti noted that the accused has been in custody for more than 13 months and the trial against him has still not commenced in the case.
Noting that the Enforcement Directorate cannot keep people in pre-detention trial for so long, the apex court granted bail to the accused.
“An accused cannot be kept in pre-trial detention for such a long time. There seems to be contradictions between what the CBI and ED are alleging,” the bench said.
The ED alleged that Babu, a regional manager of liquor manufacturing company Pernod Ricard, is allegedly involved in the case. The government had implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
