[Breaking] Excise Policy Case: Delhi High Court Denies Bail To Businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall

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Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in her ruling, rejected Dhall’s plea for regular bail, citing the seriousness of the allegations against him and the risk of him tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses.

[Breaking] Excise Policy case: Delhi High Court Denies Bail to Businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall

NEW DELHI: Today (4th June): The Delhi High Court has denied bail to businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall in Delhi Excise Scam. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in her ruling, rejected Dhall’s plea for regular bail, citing the seriousness of the allegations against him and the risk of him tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses.

Dhall, the Managing Director of Brindco Sales Private Limited, a wholesale L-1 licensee, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 18, 2023, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The trial court had earlier dismissed his regular bail plea on June 9, 2023.

The Delhi High Court, in its detailed order, noted that there are allegations that Dhall and his father had paid a bribe of Rs 5 crore to an official of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to keep their names off the case. This, according to the court, shows that Dhall has the potential to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.

Furthermore, the court observed that many of the witnesses in this case were well known to Dhall and that he was in close contact with influential leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for hatching the alleged conspiracy.

“Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the seriousness of the allegations, and the evidence collected by the prosecution, when charges are yet to be framed and evidence is yet to be recorded, and the fact that an FIR already stands registered against the applicant for paying a bribe to an officer of the Directorate of Enforcement for getting his name removed from the present case, this Court does not find any ground for grant of bail to the applicant at this stage,” Justice Sharma said in her order.

The court also noted that the “impact on the society and common man at large” of the alleged offenses has to be considered while adjudicating the bail application.

The CBI’s case against Dhall alleges that he was involved in the formulation of the Delhi liquor policy from the very beginning and was in close contact with co-accused Vijay Nair. The agency claims that Dhall was arranging meetings between Nair and officials/representatives of different liquor manufacturers during the formulation of the excise policy.

Background

Both Arora and Dhall are implicated in the money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR related to the alleged excise policy scam. The scam came under scrutiny after the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claim that irregularities were committed while modifying the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22, and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.

The ED alleges that Dhall conspired with others and was actively involved in the formulation of the liquor policy, facilitating kickbacks to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and its recoupment by the “South Group” through various means. The beneficiaries of the policy are accused of diverting “illegal” gains to the accused officials and making false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection.