Hyd bizman in ED custody

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) made a fresh arrest in the Delhi liquor scam and took into custody Hyderabad-based liquor businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai on Monday evening. He was produced before the special court in Delhi which sent him to ED custody till March 13.

Pillai is a partner in a company called Robin Distilleries LLP whom the ED had said represented the 'South Group' alleged liquor cartel linked to Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao's MLC daughter K Kavitha and others. He is also linked to arrested liquor businessman Sameer Mahandru, his wife Geetika Mahandru and their company Indospirit Group. He will be produced before a local court where the ED will seek his further custody for interrogation, they said.

Pillai's arrest makes up for the eleventh arrest made in the liquor scam by the ED. It is alleged that he was representing the 'South Group' which allegedly gave kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Aam Aadmi Party leaders which were allegedly used in Goa elections.  According to the remand report submitted to the court by ED, Arun had many times stated that he was the benami of Kavitha.

The report has alleged business links between Kavitha and Pillai. The accused, the report says, had confessed that he was maintaining business relations with Kavitha and got monetary benefits also. The report said Pillai joined the South Group company as the representative of Kavitha and has 32.5 per cent share in the Indospirit which was awarded the liquor supply contract by the Delhi government.

This move comes just two days ahead of the proposed dharna by Kavitha at Jantar Mantar demanding that the Centre introduce Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament during the current session. Sources said the ED is preparing ground to question Kavitha again in the case. It may be recalled that the CBI officials had questioned her for about seven hours in December 2022.

The report also mentioned the names of Magunta Raghava Reddy, Aurobindo Pharma Director Sharath Reddy, Boinpally Abhishek and Auditor Buchi Babu who met AAP leaders several times. However, the YSRCP had so far not reacted on the mention of the names of Raghava Reddy and Sharath Reddy.