Delhi HC reserves order on liquor firm executive’s bail petition in scam

New Delhi, May 13

The Delhi High Court (HC) has reserved its order on the bail plea of liquor giant Pernod Ricard’s executive Benoy Babu in a money-laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged liquor scam in the national capital.

The order was reserved by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma last week after the court heard the arguments of the accused as well as the ED. Before the high court, Babu has challenged a trial court’s February 16 order that dismissed his bail plea and argued that he was merely an employee of the firm with no decision-making power.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21 and undue favours were extended to the licence holders. Babu’s lawyer told the court that in the case being probed by the CBI, there is not a single allegation against his client and he was, in fact, a witness who has also cooperated in the money-laundering probe.

Babu’s bail plea was opposed by the ED. He was arrested by the federal agency in November last year. Besides Babu, the trial court had also denied bail to accused businessmen Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and Sameer Mahendru and Aurobindo Pharma’s promoter Sarath P Reddy, saying it was not possible for it to arrive at the conclusion that they would not make any attempt to tamper with the evidence if released.

The trial court had said further investigation, including ascertaining the role of others involved in the commission of the alleged offences and tracing the complete trail of the ill-gotten money, was still pending. — PTI

No decision-making power: Accused

Babu has challenged a trial court’s February 16 order that dismissed his bail plea. He argued that he was merely an employee of the firm with no decision-making power.