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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, reserved an order on the bail plea of Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Pillai concerning the liquor policy scam. The bench led by Justice Neena Bansal reserved the order, after hearing submissions from both sides, and listed the matter for further hearing on 29th November.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Zoheb Hussain, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed that Arun Pillai was allegedly influenced by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, leading him to retract two statements he had made 118 days ago.

SSP, Zoheb Hussain, in his submissions, asserted that “He (Pillai) was under the influence of Kavitha, He sought to withdraw two statements he made 118 days ago on the ground of coercion.”

SPP, while claiming that Pillai was a close aide of Kavitha, remarked, “that his retraction amounts to him tampering with his own evidence”. He also accused him of receiving bribes from Sameer Mahendru, who was the Managing Director of Indospirit. 

Addressing the retraction, Pillai’s counsel stated that, “any merit in the retraction would be tested during the trial, not here.”

SPP Hussain further added that Pillai acted as a frontman for the "South Group" liquor cartel, and paid Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to secure a larger market share in the national capital under the now-scrapped excise policy.

SPP Hussain also revealed that one of Kavitha’s associates had successfully pressured Pillai into retracting two of his previous statements.

In response, Pillai's counsel referred to the case of Manish Sisodia, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court after nearly 18 months of arrest by the CBI in the alleged liquor policy case, and said, “18 months is enough to grant bail without looking into anything”.

Notably, Pillai's counsel also mentioned that the Supreme Court on 27th August granted bail to Kavitha, who was arrested by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) due to alleged corruption and money laundering cases in the Delhi liquor scam.

Background: 

Previously, the Delhi High Court's bench led by Justice Ravinder Dudeja denied interim bail on medical grounds to Pillai. “None of the medical reports even remotely state that Pillai is suffering from any life-threatening ailment or that treatment for such disease is not available in the referral hospitals, As of now, I find no justification for grant of interim bail to the applicant” the vacation bench said.

On March 26, Pillai was arrested by the ED and subsequently sent to judicial custody following remand orders issued by the trial court under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

In his plea, Pillai argued that a “witch hunting exercise” was being used to target him, “The Directorate of Enforcement, in a vindictive manner and solely a witch-hunting exercise, has employed coercive tactics to obtain information and used third-degree measures on the petitioner/applicant, herein as well as the other accused, the plea read.”