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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on bail plea of Benoy Babu, General Manager of Pernod Ricard India and an accused in Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering probe into the alleged irregularities in the now Delhi’s scrapped excise policy.
A bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma reserved the order after hearing the counsel appearing for the accused and the Enforcement Directorate.
Defending his client, former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi submitted that Benoy is a regional manager of Pernod Ricard which is a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard Worldwide and he was not in a position to take any major decision, including the decision of giving a corporate guarantee of 200 crores. He said that there were several senior levels, which will ultimately go to the chairman and the board for such a decision. Pleading for bail, the senior advocate said that Benoy has no criminal antecedent and his detention would be punitive.
Benoy moved the HC after his bail plea was rejected by the trial court. He was arrested by the ED in November last year. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR which was lodged in the matter after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe.
The other accused in the case are Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner in the excise department Anand Tiwari and former assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
According to the CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.
The Delhi government had implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
A bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma reserved the order after hearing the counsel appearing for the accused and the Enforcement Directorate.
Defending his client, former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi submitted that Benoy is a regional manager of Pernod Ricard which is a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard Worldwide and he was not in a position to take any major decision, including the decision of giving a corporate guarantee of 200 crores. He said that there were several senior levels, which will ultimately go to the chairman and the board for such a decision. Pleading for bail, the senior advocate said that Benoy has no criminal antecedent and his detention would be punitive.
Benoy moved the HC after his bail plea was rejected by the trial court. He was arrested by the ED in November last year. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR which was lodged in the matter after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe.
The other accused in the case are Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner in the excise department Anand Tiwari and former assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
According to the CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.
The Delhi government had implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
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