New Delhi: Amid the ongoing probe into the Delhi Excise Policy case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that Aam Aadmi Party spokesman and MP Raghav Chadha attended a meeting in which the accused were also present. Chadha has disputed reports that he was named as an accused in the case.
It is learnt that the ED has named Chadha in the second supplementary charge sheet in Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday in the case related to the alleged irregularities in the now scrapped Delhi liquor policy. The statement by the ED to the court said that, “...at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s residence, there was a meeting of Raghav Chadha, ACS Finance of Punjab Govt, Excise Commissioner, Varun Roojam, FCT and officers from Punjab Excise where Vijay Nair was also present”.
Nair is also accused in the case. Chadha however disputed the media reports about him being named as an accused in the case. In a detailed statement, the AAP leader said that the reports “stating that I have been named as an accused in a complaint filed by the enforcement directorate are factually wrong, incorrect and appears to be part of a malicious propaganda to harm my reputation and credibiltiy”.
“I have not been named as an accused or even a suspect in any of the complaints filed by the enforcement directorate. There are no allegations whatsoever against me in the said complaints,” Chadha said. “It appears that in the complaint my name is mentioned as an attendee to some meeting though the basis of making such an allegation is not clear,” he added.
Chadha further said that he “vehemently and unequivocally deny commission of any alleged offence in any manner, in relation to the said meeting or otherwise”. “I request the media and publication houses not to cause any incorrect reporting and clarify this issue, lest I will be constrained to take legal action,” he added.
The ED naming Chadha in the case comes a week after the federal probe agency CBI named former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia as accused in the case in the supplementary charge sheet. Sisodia was named as the accused for the first time by the CBI in a special court in Delhi on Apr. 25.
Also read: Delhi excise policy case: Court extends Manish Sisodia's judicial custody in CBI, ED cases
Besides Sisodia, the CBI also named Hyderabad-based CA Buchi Babu Gorantla, liquor trader Amandeep Singh Dhall and Arjun Pandey as accused in the supplementary chargesheet. Later, on Apr. 28, a Delhi court denied bail to Sisodia in the money laundering case related to the excise policy case. Special Judge M K Nagpal while hearing Sisodia's bail plea denied the relief to Sisodia, saying the stage was “not fit to grant him bail”.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the application saying that the investigation was at a "crucial" stage. The ED further alleged that the senior AAP leader had planted fabricated e-mails to show there was public approval for the policy. The ED has so far filed three supplementary charge sheets in the money laundering case registered in the excise scam.
Taking cognizance of two of these on Monday, the court had ordered all the 25 accused to be produced in the court on May 10. The ED has not made Manish Sisodia an accused in a single charge sheet presented so far.
