New Delhi: A Rs 100 crore offer at the Delhi chief minister’s office in the secretariat, the transfer of bags of cash totalling Rs 25 crore by the South Group, and phone chats with assurances of tweaking the now-scrapped liquor policy for illegal benefits—these claims led to the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the 2021-22 excise policy case.
Kejriwal was arrested Thursday after hours of questioning at his residence and taken to the ED headquarters. ED sources said the agency has “sufficient proof” and “statements of other accused” to establish that Kejriwal asked for Rs 100 crore from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Member of Legislative Council K. Kavitha in exchange for benefits in the liquor trade in Delhi.
According to the ED, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, the YSR Congress Member of Parliament from Ongole, told the agency that he approached Kejriwal with a business proposal after seeing an ad in the newspaper about Delhi privatising the liquor trade. During their meeting at the CM’s office in March 2021, Kejriwal told Reddy that K. Kavitha also approached him and offered to pay Rs 100 crore to AAP.
According to the ED, Magunta said, “He (Kejriwal) said he welcomes everyone in Delhi to do business. He said that Kavitha had already approached him and that she would call him (Magunta) and discuss the future since their (Kavitha’s) team is already working in Delhi.”
Then, Kavitha called Magunta and fixed a meeting to discuss paying Rs 100 crore to Kejriwal, ED sources claimed.
“According to Magunta’s statement, Kavitha told him that Kejriwal spoke to her and asked her to give Rs 100 crore,” the ED source said.
Kavitha allegedly told Magunta he should arrange for Rs 50 crore of the total sum. Chartered accountant Buchi Babu, Kavitha’s aide, contacted Magunta’s son Raghav the next day.
“(Raghav) said that he could arrange Rs 30 crore. Finally, Rs 25 crore was paid in cash to Abhishek Boinpalli (a businessman) and Buchi on instructions of Kavitha,” the ED source said.
Kejriwal was aware of “how undue favours were being extended to the licensees like waivers and reduction in the license fee, and the extension of the L-1 license (granted to business entities having wholesale distribution experience in liquor trade) in exchange for kickbacks”, according to the ED.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have refuted the allegations against Kejriwal. Delhi cabinet minister Atishi said Kejwal will not resign and has requested an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court, seeking a quashing of the arrest.
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‘Bags full of cash and a favourable policy’
According to the ED source, the statement of Raghav Magunta revealed he paid Rs 25 crore in cash to Abhishek in line with an agreement between Kavitha, his father, and him.
This cash transfer, according to the ED source, took place in two instalments, with Raghav’s staff Gopi delivering Rs 10 crore in cash to an address in Chennai that Buchi had shared on 28 March 2021 and the remaining Rs 15 crore to an address shared by Abhishek in June 2021.
Gopi, the ED source said, has corroborated Raghav’s claims in his statement, saying he delivered cash on two occasions to one person on Raghav’s instructions.
The ED has also put on record a statement of a staff member with K. Kavitha who revealed he “collected two heavy bags containing cash from Dinesh Arora’s office on Abhishek Boinpally’s directions and delivered it to a person named Vinod Chauhan”.
“The staff revealed that 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,” the ED source said.
The ED source added that Vinod Chauhan transferred the money for the AAP election campaign in Goa through the ‘hawala’ route.
The source further said accused-turned-approver Aurobindo Pharma director Sarath Reddy told the agency that in March 2021, Arun Pillai, an associate of Kavitha, contacted him and informed him that there was a “new business opportunity in the Delhi liquor business and Kavitha was in discussion with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia”.
Reddy also told the ED that through Vijay Nair, former AAP communications in-charge, Kejriwal and Sisodia proposed to Kavitha that if she paid Rs 100 crore, they would “amend and implement the excise policy (in a way that is) beneficial to her”.
According to the ED source, after his discussion with Arun Pillai, Sarath Reddy met Kavitha in Hyderabad, and she told him that she had discussed the matter with Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy and that her team was already working in Delhi with Vijay Nair. “This team comprised Arun Pillai, Buchi Babu, and Abhishek Boinpalli,” the source said.
Kavitha also informed Sarath Reddy that Vijay Nair would handle all issues on behalf of Kejriwal and Sisodia in the matter, added the source.
Sarath Reddy said in his statement that Kavitha informed him about the Rs 100 crore for “favourable policy” and “other favours in the Delhi liquor business”. “Reddy agreed to pay (a) part of Rs 100 crore to be paid to the AAP leaders when the business commences since he didn’t have cash in hand at that time,” the ED source said.
The source added that Vijay Nair was working on the excise policy on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. “The understanding was that in exchange for the favours in the policy and the Delhi liquor business for K. Kavitha, some funds would be given to the AAP. Arun Pillai was also closely working with Vijay Nair on the policy discussions,” the source said.
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‘A meeting at Oberoi and phone chats’
According to the ED source, accused-turned-approver businessman Dinesh Arora said K. Kavitha, Arun Pillai, Vijay Nair, and Dinesh Arora discussed the recovery of the Rs 100 crore at a meeting at Oberoi Maidens Hotel in New Delhi on 3 October 2022.
The statement of Buchi Babu revealed that “there was a political understanding between K. Kavitha and Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia”, the source said.
The ED also claimed that K. Kavitha got a partnership with liquor importer and distributor Indospirit in the name of Arun Pillai in exchange for the payment. “Further, it was ensured that Indospirit got the distribution business of the most profitable, biggest manufacturer, i.e., Pernod Ricard,” the source added.
The ED also said that during the investigation, it found Buchi Babu had parts of the Group of Ministers (GoM) report on the excise policy from two days before the members submitted it to the Delhi ministers’ council. The ED source said he received the same because of his access and connection with Vijay Nair.
According to the ED source, Vijay Nair’s visit to Hyderabad to meet K. Kavitha and his chats with Buchi Babu, retrieved from Babu’s phone, established the criminal conspiracy in including favourable provisions in the excise policy.
The chats’ contents were not in the 15 March 2021 and 19 March 2021 GoM reports but in the 22 March 2021 final report, which came after Vijay Nair met K. Kavitha in Hyderabad.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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