Delhi liquor scam: ED arrests Hyderabad-based Arun Ramachandran Pillai

HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramachandran Pillai in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam case. Pillai, who is the promoter of Robin Distilleries, is one of the prime accused in the case.

The agency also attached a piece of land worth Rs 2.2 crores in Vattinagulapally and owned by Pillai.

The ED, which has gone on the money-laundering trail in the case, accuses Arun Ramachandran Pillai of being linked to Sameer Mahendru, who was already arrested for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy scam. Mahendru is the Managing Director of Delhi-based Indospirit Group and was earlier described by the ED as the kingpin in the scam.

Pillai’s arrest follows a spate of earlier arrests by both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various charges including corruption, as part of the larger case. The most recent was that of Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI last week. Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Gorantla Buchibabu and Abhishek boinpalli were also among those detained in the case. Incidentally, Buchibabu was granted bail by a Delhi court on Monday.

The ED, which is likely to question Sisodia and Pillai in due course, is expected to put the spotlight on the links between Pillai and his alleged associate Abhishek Boinpalli. Until his arrest in October 2022 by the CBI, Abhishek was reportedly a director of Robin Distribution LLP. The investigating agencies, especially the ED, suspect this to be a shell company which, according to it, was used to launder commission money received from liquor firms that were allegedly benefitted from the controversial liquor policy.

The ED claims that Abhishek was allegedly associated with a syndicate of liquor traders from the southern states and that Arun Pillai floated his shell company to re-route the commission money he would collect from the liquor businessmen.