Delhi Liquor Scam: Arun Ramachandra’s Hyderabad land among Rs 76.54 Cr property attached

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 76.54 Crore of four accused in the Delhi Liquor scam. The attached properties include Rs 2.25 crore worth land parcel in Hyderabad owned by accused Arun Ramachandra Pillai.

Arun Ramachandra Pillai: A partner in Indo-sports, he was allegedly acting on behalf of TRS MLC K Kavitha. He is a close aide of P Sarath Reddy and Magunta Srinivasulu. He invested Rs 5 Crore in `Indo Sports' and received a profit of Rs 17 crore. He holds a 35 % stake in Indo Sports. Arun Ramachandra Pillai was booked by the CBI. He would collect the bribe amount from Sameer Mahandru and further hand it over to Vijay Nair who is accused of bribing government servants in the Delhi Excise department.

Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs. 76.54 Crore including residential properties worth Rs. 35 Crore in Jor Bagh, New Delhi owned by Sameer Mahandru and Smt Geetika Mahendru, the residential premise of Rs. 7.68 Crore in Magnolias, Gurugram owned by Amit Arora, the residential premise of Rs. 1.77 Crore in Crescent Bay, Parel, Mumbai, owned by Vijay Nair; assets of Rs. 3.18 Crore of “Chica”, “La Roca”, “Unplugged Courtyard” all restaurants owned by Dinesh Arora; land parcel worth Rs. 2.25 Crore in Vattinagulapalle, Hyderabad, owned by Arun Pillai; 50 vehicles worth Rs. 10.23 Crore owned by Indospirit Group and bank balance/fixed Deposits/financial instruments worth Rs. 14.39 Crore.

ED investigation revealed that acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 led to the loss of at least Rs. 2873 Crore to the government exchequer.

Proceeds of Crime generated by the activities relating to the scheduled offence under section 7 of PC Act, 2018 and 120 B of IPC, to the tune of Rs. 76.54 Crore has been traced so far and has been attached.

To date, the ED has conducted searches on multiple locations across the country including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and other places. After analysis of seized records followed by the disclosures of various persons, the above diversion of POC has been unearthed. Six accused namely, Vijay Nair, Sameer

Mahandru, Amit Arora, Sarath Reddy, Benoy Babu, and Abhishek Boinpally have been arrested. All are currently in judicial custody. Two Prosecution Complaints have been filed and cognizance of the offence has also been taken by the Special Court, PMLA.