Delhi Excise Policy: Delhi court rejects bail pleas of five accused, says 'allegations quite serious'
New Delhi, February 16: The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday rejected the bail petitions of five accused, who were arrested in the money laundering probe emerging out of the Delhi government's now scrapped Excise Policy.
While rejecting the bail plea, the Rouse Avenue Court noted that none of the accused deserved to be released on bail in this case at this stage of proceedings as the allegations made against them are quite serious. Special Judge MK Nagpal, while rejecting the bail plea of Vijay Nair, Abhishek Bonipally, Sameer Mahendru, Sarath P Reddy and Binoy Babu, observed that the accused did not even satisfy the triple test as laid down in the case of P Chidambaram vs Directorate of Enforcement being relied upon by defence counsels.
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In the case, the ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the 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 account to evade detection.
The FIR in the case was instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
- ANI
