Double trouble! A new bribery case comes to the fore

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government may face another investigation into a liquor scam in Delhi, where an IAS officer took the name of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and pressured his subordinate to extort money from liquor traders. LG VK Saxena has ordered an FIR against the officer after the recorded conversation was found to be correct in the FSL investigation.

Additionally, the Home Ministry has proposed disciplinary action.

The allegation has been leveled against IAS officer Amarnath Talwade, who is now posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The case in which LG has ordered an FIR is from 2015–16. Talwade was then holding the post of Senior General Manager at Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (DSCSC). It is alleged that he pressured DSCSC manager PK Shahi (now retired) to collect money from liquor vendors and threatened him with a transfer.

As per the sources, action has been taken after a telephone conversation between two officers came to light and was found to be accurate and not tampered with in the FSL investigation. During the conversation, Talwade also reportedly confesses that he received Rs 5 lakh from Shahi immediately after taking charge of DSCSC. Talwade was posted in DSCSC from January 12, 2015, to April 29, 2016. In this matter, a Noida resident made a complaint to the Vigilance Directorate on March 21, 2023. He had also handed over a pen drive containing audio clips.

The complainant claimed that the conversation was between an IAS officer and an inspector discussing a bribe in an excise case. In the first investigation, the Vigilance Directorate found that the suspected IAS official was Amarnath Talwade and the other subordinate officer was PK Sahi, between whom the communication took place.