ED files ninth charge sheet in Delhi excise policy case, names Vinod Chauhan as accused

PTI, Jun 28, 2024, 5:22 PM IST

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a fresh and the ninth charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case naming a person called Vinod Chauhan as an accused, official sources said.
Chauhan was arrested by the federal agency in May as part of this investigation.
The sources said a fresh and the ninth prosecution complaint (charge sheet) was filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here naming Vinod Chauhan.
He was the 18th person to have been arrested by the ED in this case in which it has also taken into custody Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, his party colleague and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh, BRS leader and former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao’s politician daughter K Kavitha and several liquor businessmen and others.
The ED has mentioned the alleged role of Chauhan in this case in an official document submitted before a court in relation to the arrest of Kavitha.
“Statement of one of the staff members of K Kavitha revealed that he collected two heavy bags containing cash from accused Dinesh Arora’s office on Abhishek Boinpally’s directions and delivered it to Vinod Chauhan,” the ED said.
“On another occasion, he collected two such bags containing cash from an address near Todapur, Narayana, New Delhi and again delivered it to Vinod Chauhan. Chauhan then transferred the same for the AAP election campaign in Goa through the Hawala route,” the agency claimed.
The agency had earlier charged that out of the Rs 100-crore bribe money given to the AAP in the Delhi excise policy by the South Group — consisting of Kavitha and some others as members — Rs 45 crore was used for its Goa assembly election campaign.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
Taking cognisance of a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.