The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against an Enforcement Directorate officer for allegedly accepting bribes during the probe into the Delhi liquor policy case. Officials told CNN-News18 that at least five locations have been raided in connection with the case.
An assistant director at ED, Pawan Khatri, liquor scam accused Amandeep Singh Dhall, his father Birendra Pal Singh, chartered accountant Praveen Kumar Vats, CEO of a Delhi hotel Vikramaditya, Air India employee Deepak Sangwan, and a private person have been named for criminal conspiracy, bribing a public servant, taking undue advantage of personal influence, and other offences.
The accused in their statement to agencies have said that Birendra Pal Singh paid Rs 5 crore between December 2022 and January 2023 to Praveen Vats to secure relief for Dhall. Singh said in his statement that he knew Vats as a CA and took his advice on financial matters. Vats in turn was assured by Deepak Sangwan that he can prevent Dhall’s arrest. Sangwan introduced Vats to ED officer Khatri in December 2022 as per a preliminary probe.
Dhall was arrested in March 2023, following which a demand to return the money that Birendra Pal Singh had paid was made.
The CBI is looking at CCTV footage of various locations where the accused reportedly met. These include a paan shop near the Claridges hotel, a Haldiram’s outlet at Bikaner House and also the Priya Complex in south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar.
The probe was initiated after Sonia Narang, special director of ED wrote to the CBI director about the Enforcement Directorate’s suspicion that money was being taken from liquor scam accused in the name of “senior ED officials”.
“During the course of investigation of Delhi liquor scam it was learnt that a group of certain persons were involved in the activity of taking money in the name of senior ED officials,” the letter from Narang dated August 7 said.
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