Delhi businessman Dinesh Arora, an accused in the excise policy scam, on Monday told a special court that he wants to become an approver in the case. “I am ready to disclose all facts pertaining to this case,” Mr. Arora said in his application to special court Judge M.K. Nagpal. He also requested to be pardoned in the matter.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the case of alleged irregularities in the (now withdrawn) excise policy case, has described Mr. Arora as a “close associate” of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is the main accused in the alleged scam.
The court will decide on November 14 whether to allow the CBI, which did not oppose the plea, to make Mr. Arora a prosecution witness in the matter. It will also hear the arguments on his petition for a pardon the same day.
In response to a query by the judge, Mr. Arora said he has decided to become a witness in the case without any pressure “from the CBI or anyone else”.
The court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Mr. Arora after the probe agency did not oppose his bail plea, saying that he had disclosed certain facts which were vital for the probe and hence, “the CBI has no objection if the anticipatory bail is granted to the applicant by this court”.
Mr. Arora also moved an application , through his lawyer R.K. Thakur, seeking in-camera proceedings in the matter, terming it “sensitive” and requesting that the media be kept out “at this early stage”.
The accused
The case, which is being investigated by the CBI, pertains to alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-withdrawn excise policy.
The accused public servants include Mr. Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Besides Mr. Arora, others accused in the case include Vijay Nair, former Chief Executive Officer of Mumbai-based entertainment and event management company Only Much Louder; Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; Sameer Mahendru, managing director of Indospirit Group; Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail; Sunny Marwah, the authorised signatory of Mahadev Liquors; and two individuals — Arun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey.
‘Illegal gains’
The CBI has alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval.
The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection, it further said.
The Excise Department had allegedly decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about ₹30 crore to a successful tenderer against the existing rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, waiver on tendered licence fee was allowed due to COVID-19 from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, allegedly causing a loss of ₹144.36 crore to the exchequer.
The CBI had also alleged that they were actively involved in managing and diverting the bribes collected from the beneficiary licence holders to the public servants.
