Delhi liquor scam: In an effort to influence the Goa election, the PA of BRS leader K Kavitha gave Rs 25 crores to Vinod Chauhan through Abhishek Boinpally, according to a submission made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday. The legal representative for the ED stated that before the end of this month, a prosecution complaint will be brought against Vinod Chauhan. It was May when he was arrested.
Vinod Chauhan’s court case was postponed until July 3 by the Rouse Avenue court. Following the end of their judicial custody, he was brought before the court via video conference from Tihar Prison. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi was also given an extension of his judicial custody until July 3 by the court.
As part of a money-laundering investigation related to the Delhi excise policy, Chauhan was detained by the central investigative agency in May of this year. For the AAP’s electoral campaign in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections, Chauhan is charged with transferring cash monies obtained through purported kickbacks from the “South Group.” After 18 arrests in the case, Chauhan was the last one.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister and party colleague, K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha, the leader of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former chief minister of Telangana, and several liquor traders.
In an official document submitted to the court regarding the arrest of Kavitha, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) highlighted Chauhan’s purported involvement in the case. The agency stated that a staff member of K Kavitha disclosed that, under the instructions of Abhishek Boinpally, he retrieved two large bags filled with cash from Dinesh Arora’s office and handed them over to Vinod Chauhan.
“On another occasion, he went to an address close to Todapur, Narayana, New Delhi, and picked up two similar bags containing cash, which he then gave to Vinod Chauhan. Chauhan thereafter transferred the same via the hawala route for the AAP’s Goa election campaign,” it continued
AAP received bribe money of Rs 100 crore from the ‘South Group’, of which Kavitha and a few others were members. The ED had previously accused the party of using Rs 45 crore for its campaign to win the Goa Assembly elections. Also included in the ‘South Group’ were promoter Sarath Reddy of the Aurobindo Group, his son Raghav Magunta, and former MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy of the YSR Congress Party.
In dealing with AAP leaders in this matter, the ED has claimed that Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, and Kavitha’s purported auditor Butchibabu represented the ‘South Group’.
