Excise scam: Enforcement Directorate gets 7-day custody of bizman

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 30

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested businessman Amit Arora under provisions of the PMLA in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy case. A special local court remanded him in seven-day custody for interrogation, officials said today.

Arora, who is considered to be close to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, is also the director of Buddy Retail Pvt Limited located in Gurugram. This is the sixth arrest in this case by the ED.

The businessman was arrested last night, the officials said, adding that today he was produced before the special court. Special Judge NK Nagpal sent the accused to the agency’s custody after the ED counsel made a plea saying that he was needed to be quizzed to unearth the larger conspiracy. The counsel sought his custody for 14 days, saying he was required to be confronted with other co-accused and with evidence collected during the investigation, the officials said, adding that but the court granted seven-day custody.

The ED told the court that on the basis of the investigation conducted so far, Arora was involved in activities connected to the acquisition, possession and use of the proceeds of crime. It also claimed that the accused did not cooperate in the investigation and withheld information, which was in his exclusive knowledge and extremely relevant to the probe. The case registered by the ED is based on a CBI FIR.

The CBI, in its first chargesheet filed last week, claimed that Arora, with two other accused, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey, were “close associates” of Sisodia and were actively involved in “managing” and “diverting” the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees for the accused public servants.

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