CA claims ‘South group’ took chartered flight to Delhi for tweaking excise policy: CBI

The CBI claims in the chargesheet that during a search conducted at Sisodia’s office, a soft copy of the draft group of ministers report, called ‘My Note on GoM.dox’, was retrieved from his computer. In the report, there was a provision for a mandatory 5% minimum distribution fee for wholesalers, the chargesheet said.

When the draft was being finalised, however, the chargesheet claimed, the profit margin for wholesalers was “abruptly increased from 5% to 12%”. The CBI alleges that the change in the report was “connected with dishonest activities of the accused Vijay Nair, a close associate of the accused Sisodia and his party functionary, and other accused persons”.

“It is revealed that accused Nair was interacting with stakeholders and representatives of liquor manufacturers and demanding undue advantage for favourable provisions in the policy,” it claimed. Gorantla, in turn, according to the CBI, was in touch with Nair.

“… accused persons of South Group — Arun R Pillai, Abhishek Boinpally, Butchi Babu Gorantla, Sharath Chandra Reddy of Aurbindo Group — visited Delhi on 14.03.2021… During their stay, hotel records… locations of their phone and GPS of the hotel vehicle hired by them prove they were meeting with accused Vijay Nair, who in turn was meeting with accused Manish Sisodia,” it claimed.

On the basis of the recommendations of the GoM, according to the supplementary chargesheet, the new Excise Policy 2021-22 was formulated and processed between May 20 and May 21 in addition to being “approved by the Council of Ministers through circulation on 21.05.2021, in very hurried manner, despite it being the peak of pandemic”.

According to the CBI, during this period, on May 20 and 21, 2021, “ accused persons of South Group, namely, Boinpally, Pillai and Gorantla, along with Sharath Reddy, had travelled to New Delhi in a chartered plane and held a meeting…” in the capital where “the criminal conspiracy was hatched regarding modalities for obtaining pecuniary advantage in return of undue favour caused in the excise policy”.

In a WhatsApp chat dated 06.03.2021 retrieved from the phones of Gorantla, the agency claimed, it was mentioned that “2-3 visits to Delhi are required for tweaking and freezing the policy”.

Gorantla, it stated, was “a frequent visitor to New Delhi along with the accused persons of the South Group” on crucial dates, such as March 14 to 17 when the GoM Report was being finalised, May 20 to 21 when the Draft Excise Policy was being finalised, July 17 to 21 when the tender was floated and August 8 to 12 when the Letters of Acceptance were being issued to successful bidders.

The chargesheet claimed that Sisodia, with “malafide intention to manipulate”, fabricated certain emails through Delhi Minorities Commission chairperson, which were sent by the body’s interns on the email ID created to collect feedback. It alleges that Sisodia was “working with preconceived ideas for the formulation of the Excise Policy”.

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Meanwhile, during investigation, the CBI said “no incriminating evidence” had been found against Arava Gopi Krishna, the then Commissioner, Excise, “to indicate any… criminal misconduct on his part.”