On Monday, 15th May, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the Commercial Head and Production Controller of India Ahead News, Arvind Kumar Singh, in connection with its probe into the alleged Delhi excise scam. Singh was arrested for allegedly transferring 17 crore rupees to a company handling the Aam Aadmi Party’s publicity campaign during the Goa elections through hawala channels.
As told by PTI, CBI officials have said that they found, during their investigation, WhatsApp chats and records of hawala operators, which show that Singh was a crucial link in the hawala transfers worth rupees 17 crore, during the period from June 2021 to January 2022. This money was transferred to Chariot Media, the company which was managing the outdoor advertising campaign of AAP for the Goa elections.
The Goa State Assembly elections had taken place on February 14th, 2022.
This is another major finding which has been made by the CBI, with relation to the Delhi government’s excise policy 2021-22, which was scrapped after it was alleged that in order to grant licenses to liquor traders, the policy favoured certain traders who had allegedly paid bribes for the same. Despite all the developments in the case, the allegation has been strongly refuted by AAP throughout.
It was further alleged that more irregularities were committed, including modifications in the excise policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in license fee, and the extension of L-1 license without approval, etc.
An FIR in this matter was filed on August 17, 2022, after which a CBI spokesperson had said that it was also alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts.
