As AAP faces CBI warmth in Delhi, Congress, SAD search probe into Punjab’s excise coverage
11 min readBy PTI
CHANDIGARH: The opposition Congress and SAD on Saturday demanded a probe into Punjab’s excise coverage, alleging it was a “sellout” and the state was “defrauded” like in Delhi the place its liquor coverage is below the CBI scanner.
The demand in AAP-ruled Punjab got here a day after CBI carried out searches at 31 locations which included premises associated to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in addition to some bureaucrats and businessmen over alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise coverage 2021-22.
Congress Legislative Party chief in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa together with different get together leaders mentioned they’ll meet the governor in search of a probe into the excise coverage in Punjab.
“Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sellout in which the AAP leaders in connivance with some senior officials have defrauded the state of thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” Bajwa alleged.
He additionally mentioned that Congress will search an NIA probe into “illegal sand mining going on along the border areas which even the Border Security Force had warned was a threat to national security”.
“Let the two ministers concerned heading the excise and the mining departments in Punjab be ready for the same fate as that of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in Delhi,” he mentioned.
Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 by the Enforcement Directorate below provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is at present in judicial custody.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Bikram Singh Majithia too demanded a high-level probe into Punjab’s excise coverage, alleging the “liquor mafia” which is being probed in Delhi by the CBI had taken over the liquor enterprise in Punjab.
ALSO READ | ‘Sisodia accused primary however Kejriwal kingpin in liquor rip-off’: BJP hits out at AAP
“The AAP government of Punjab is looting the state exchequer to contest elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” Majithia alleged.
He claimed that the excise coverage of Punjab, which inspired “monopoly” of the liquor enterprise, was “a copy of the Delhi excise policy”.
“Now, when corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy is being investigated, the same must be done in Punjab also,” the SAD chief demanded.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress mentioned the whole state management will current itself earlier than the vigilance bureau on Monday at 11 am because it was “fed up with the daily dose of allegations” towards its leaders by the AAP authorities.
The Congress leaders additionally sounded a stern warning to officers concerned within the investigation, asking them to not overstep their temporary as finally they must serve in Punjab and the get together will be sure that the regulation catches up with them because it has caught up with others even after retirement.
The leaders, together with Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Bajwa, ridiculed the AAP’s try to “divert attention from its corrupt practices in Delhi and Punjab” by resorting to “vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab”.
“While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents,” Warring alleged.
The CBI on Saturday recorded the statements of three of the accused because it started the questioning within the alleged corruption case associated to the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, officers mentioned.
The company can also be inspecting the paperwork seized on Friday throughout raids at 31 locations, together with the residence of Delhi’ Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who’s among the many 15 named within the FIR, they mentioned.
The three accused had been referred to as to the CBI headquarters the place their statements had been recorded they usually had been confronted with some paperwork of monetary transactions recovered throughout the searches, the officers mentioned, with out elaborating.
The accused had been questioned for almost 12 hours after which they had been allowed to go residence, they mentioned.
Some of them might be referred to as once more for questioning, they mentioned.
The officers mentioned as soon as the method of inspecting the paperwork and digital devices in addition to the financial institution transactions is accomplished, summonses might be issued to different accused.
The CBI FIR, which was registered earlier than a particular courtroom on Wednesday, has additionally been shared with the Enforcement Directorate, a monetary probe company, which is able to look into the allegations of cash laundering.
ALSO READ | EXPLAINED | How the controversy over the Delhi Liquor Policy unfolded
The company on Friday carried out searches at 31 locations, which included premises associated to Sisodia in addition to some bureaucrats and businessmen.
The AAP condemned the raids with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming the company has been “asked from above” to harass its leaders.
The BJP requested the Delhi authorities to come back out clear on its excise coverage.
Under the CBI probe are at the very least two funds in crores allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the proprietor of Indospirits, who was one of many liquor merchants actively concerned in alleged irregularities within the framing and implementation of the excise coverage.
The FIR alleged Sisodia’s “close associates” – Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt.
Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey – had been “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees” to the accused public servants.
The search operations on Friday continued for almost 15 hours with the CBI workforce leaving Sisodia’s residence at round 11 pm.
The searches on the AAP chief’s residence, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 29 different locations occurred after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged corruption and bribery within the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy introduced out final November, officers mentioned.
The coverage was withdrawn in July this 12 months after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena referred to as for a CBI probe.
The FIR on August 17 was based mostly on a reference from the Lieutenant Governor’s workplace routed by means of the Union Home Ministry.
The CBI has invoked the IPC part associated to felony conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Public servants together with Krishna, former Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, 9 businessmen and two corporations are amongst these named within the FIR.
Speaking to reporters after the raid, Sisodia had mentioned on Friday, “The CBI team reached in the morning and searched the whole house. My family and I extended them full cooperation. They seized my computer and mobile phone. They also took away some files.”
He alleged that the Centre was misusing the company to cease the Arvind Kejriwal authorities from “doing good work” in Delhi.
The CBI, which registered an FIR in a particular courtroom right here on Wednesday, started its raids from 8 am in seven states.
The search operation expanded to 31 areas in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru which led to the restoration of “incriminating” paperwork, articles, digital data, and so forth, the officers had mentioned.
The damaging allegations within the FIR, based mostly on “source information”, state that Sisodia and the accused public servants took choices pertaining to the excise coverage 2021-22 with out the approval of competent authority with “an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender”.
“It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc,” the CBI’s spokesperson mentioned in a press release on Friday.
CHANDIGARH: The opposition Congress and SAD on Saturday demanded a probe into Punjab’s excise coverage, alleging it was a “sellout” and the state was “defrauded” like in Delhi the place its liquor coverage is below the CBI scanner.
The demand in AAP-ruled Punjab got here a day after CBI carried out searches at 31 locations which included premises associated to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in addition to some bureaucrats and businessmen over alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise coverage 2021-22.
Congress Legislative Party chief in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa together with different get together leaders mentioned they’ll meet the governor in search of a probe into the excise coverage in Punjab.
“Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sellout in which the AAP leaders in connivance with some senior officials have defrauded the state of thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” Bajwa alleged.
He additionally mentioned that Congress will search an NIA probe into “illegal sand mining going on along the border areas which even the Border Security Force had warned was a threat to national security”.
“Let the two ministers concerned heading the excise and the mining departments in Punjab be ready for the same fate as that of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in Delhi,” he mentioned.
Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 by the Enforcement Directorate below provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is at present in judicial custody.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Bikram Singh Majithia too demanded a high-level probe into Punjab’s excise coverage, alleging the “liquor mafia” which is being probed in Delhi by the CBI had taken over the liquor enterprise in Punjab.
ALSO READ | ‘Sisodia accused primary however Kejriwal kingpin in liquor rip-off’: BJP hits out at AAP
“The AAP government of Punjab is looting the state exchequer to contest elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” Majithia alleged.
He claimed that the excise coverage of Punjab, which inspired “monopoly” of the liquor enterprise, was “a copy of the Delhi excise policy”.
“Now, when corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy is being investigated, the same must be done in Punjab also,” the SAD chief demanded.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress mentioned the whole state management will current itself earlier than the vigilance bureau on Monday at 11 am because it was “fed up with the daily dose of allegations” towards its leaders by the AAP authorities.
The Congress leaders additionally sounded a stern warning to officers concerned within the investigation, asking them to not overstep their temporary as finally they must serve in Punjab and the get together will be sure that the regulation catches up with them because it has caught up with others even after retirement.
The leaders, together with Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Bajwa, ridiculed the AAP’s try to “divert attention from its corrupt practices in Delhi and Punjab” by resorting to “vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab”.
“While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents,” Warring alleged.
The CBI on Saturday recorded the statements of three of the accused because it started the questioning within the alleged corruption case associated to the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, officers mentioned.
The company can also be inspecting the paperwork seized on Friday throughout raids at 31 locations, together with the residence of Delhi’ Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who’s among the many 15 named within the FIR, they mentioned.
The three accused had been referred to as to the CBI headquarters the place their statements had been recorded they usually had been confronted with some paperwork of monetary transactions recovered throughout the searches, the officers mentioned, with out elaborating.
The accused had been questioned for almost 12 hours after which they had been allowed to go residence, they mentioned.
Some of them might be referred to as once more for questioning, they mentioned.
The officers mentioned as soon as the method of inspecting the paperwork and digital devices in addition to the financial institution transactions is accomplished, summonses might be issued to different accused.
The CBI FIR, which was registered earlier than a particular courtroom on Wednesday, has additionally been shared with the Enforcement Directorate, a monetary probe company, which is able to look into the allegations of cash laundering.
ALSO READ | EXPLAINED | How the controversy over the Delhi Liquor Policy unfolded
The company on Friday carried out searches at 31 locations, which included premises associated to Sisodia in addition to some bureaucrats and businessmen.
The AAP condemned the raids with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming the company has been “asked from above” to harass its leaders.
The BJP requested the Delhi authorities to come back out clear on its excise coverage.
Under the CBI probe are at the very least two funds in crores allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the proprietor of Indospirits, who was one of many liquor merchants actively concerned in alleged irregularities within the framing and implementation of the excise coverage.
The FIR alleged Sisodia’s “close associates” – Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt.
Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey – had been “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees” to the accused public servants.
The search operations on Friday continued for almost 15 hours with the CBI workforce leaving Sisodia’s residence at round 11 pm.
The searches on the AAP chief’s residence, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 29 different locations occurred after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged corruption and bribery within the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy introduced out final November, officers mentioned.
The coverage was withdrawn in July this 12 months after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena referred to as for a CBI probe.
The FIR on August 17 was based mostly on a reference from the Lieutenant Governor’s workplace routed by means of the Union Home Ministry.
The CBI has invoked the IPC part associated to felony conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Public servants together with Krishna, former Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, 9 businessmen and two corporations are amongst these named within the FIR.
Speaking to reporters after the raid, Sisodia had mentioned on Friday, “The CBI team reached in the morning and searched the whole house. My family and I extended them full cooperation. They seized my computer and mobile phone. They also took away some files.”
He alleged that the Centre was misusing the company to cease the Arvind Kejriwal authorities from “doing good work” in Delhi.
The CBI, which registered an FIR in a particular courtroom right here on Wednesday, started its raids from 8 am in seven states.
The search operation expanded to 31 areas in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru which led to the restoration of “incriminating” paperwork, articles, digital data, and so forth, the officers had mentioned.
The damaging allegations within the FIR, based mostly on “source information”, state that Sisodia and the accused public servants took choices pertaining to the excise coverage 2021-22 with out the approval of competent authority with “an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender”.
“It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc,” the CBI’s spokesperson mentioned in a press release on Friday.
