India’s top anti-corruption watchdog the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Hyderabad-based consultant Abhishek Boinpally in a Delhi excise policy case as a probe deepens.
According to media reports, Boinpally was called for questioning on Sunday by the CBI and the agency found him to be evading certain key questions, following which he was taken into custody late last night.
In particular, Boinpally is accused of lobbying efforts for certain liquor businessmen based in southern India.
This is the third arrest in the liquor policy case being probed by India’s economic intelligence and law enforcement agency – the Enforcement Directorate (ED) – after the CBI filed a complaint alleging irregularities in the policy.
Delhi’s deputy state chief Manish Sisodia and bureaucrats related to the excise department have been named as accused by the CBI in its complaint.
Notably, businessman Vijay Nair, former CEO of a Mumbai-based event management company, was the first person to be arrested in the case about two weeks ago. A few days later, managing director of Delhi-based liquor distributor Sameer Mahendru was also taken into custody.
The ED has conducted three rounds of raids in various parts of the country as part of its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-rolled-back liquor policy.
On September 6, it raided 35 locations in Delhi and other cities while on September 16, as many as 40 other locations were searched in several cities in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
Last week, raids were conducted at 35 locations in Delhi, Punjab, and Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).
The agency is searching premises linked to liquor companies, distributors, and supply chain networks in several locations in these states.
Ever since federal agencies began investigating the case, Delhi's governing AAP and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been engaged in a political blame game.
The BJP has accused the AAP of looting the wealth of the people of Delhi, while the latter has denied the claims. The AAP believes the federally governing party is targeting it, with one of the reasons being the upcoming civic body elections in Delhi, where the BJP's main opponent will be the AAP.