The Enforcement Directorate questioned Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot for about five hours on Saturday and recorded his statement in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to the Aam Aadmi Party government's now-scrapped excise policy, officials said.
The government has no say in where the country's refiners source oil from because these are commercial transactions.
Overall this is the eighth charge sheet filed by the ED in this case in which it has arrested 18 people so far. Last week, a similar complaint was filed by the agency against BRS leader and former Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao's daughter K Kavitha and four others.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may initiate a money laundering investigation over the framing and execution of the Aam Aadmi Party government's excise policy, official sources said on Friday after the Central Bureau of Investigation raided Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others in the matter.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday launched fresh raids in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, official sources said.
The federal agency had arrested 46-year-old Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, from her Banjara hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Aam Aadmi Party communication in-charge Vijay Nair and businessman Abhishek Boinpally in connection with its ongoing money laundering probe into the Delhi Excise policy that was scraped following corruption allegations, official sources said Monday.
According to a senior police officer, the man has been detained and further inquiry is underway.
State governments have requested the Centre for export incentives, lifting of import duty in the case of cotton for the textile sector and GST exemptions.
The ED will probe if there were alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy unveiled in November last year.
Cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has been raised by Rs 50 per cylinder by distribution companies, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
Excise department officials said brand registration is an ongoing process and more will be available in coming days.
Police said they have made five arrests in the incident. Those arrested have been identified as Prabhjit Singh, the main accused, Kulbir Singh, Sahib Singh, Gurjant Singh and Ninder Kaur, they said.
The police want to trace the youths as well as a minor seen in the viral video, it said in court.
On Monday, Kejriwal, 55, skipped the seventh summons issued to him in the case, saying he would appear before the agency if a court ordered him to do so.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha after an hours-long raid at her premises in Hyderabad and brought her to Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, agency sources said.
The high court said he was a very powerful and influential person within the power corridors of the Delhi government as he had the responsibility of 18 portfolios in the city dispensation.
A Delhi court on Friday sent Bharat Rasthra Samithi leader K Kavitha to Central Bureau of Investigation custody till April 15 in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
BRS leader and former Telangana minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy claimed that Kavitha was taken to Delhi on a flight at 8.45 pm.
He was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
The law officer said the money trail showed that Rs 45 crore "kickback" used in the Goa assembly elections came from four hawala routes.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party remained tight-lipped about whether the chief minister will appear before the Enforcement Directorate or not.
The federal agency has filed a chargesheet against the 56-year-old politician before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here last year after arresting him in March.
Sisodia was unhappy with the recommendations, so he asked the then excise commissioner Rahul Singh to seek public opinion by placing the Dhawan Committee report on web site, the agency alleged in the chargesheet.
Goa excise commissioner Narayan Gad on Monday heard arguments over a complaint against a restaurant, which the Congress claimed was linked to Union minister Smriti Irani's daughter.
This comes after the agency conducted searches at his residence earlier in the day in connection with the case.
This is the third notice to Kejriwal, also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, after he refused to appear before the federal agency on two earlier summons for November 2 and December 21.
The Himachal Pradesh government's Excise and Taxation Department inspected an Adani Group company, scrutinising records and checking the stock at the Adani Wilmar warehouse in Parwanoo, officials said on Thursday. The officials were apparently investigating possible GST violations by the company, a 50:50 joint venture between the Adani conglomerate and Singapore-based Wilmar. The inspection on Wednesday evening in the Congress-run state comes at a time when the group finds itself in the middle of a political row at the Centre, triggered by a scathing report by US-based Hindenburg Research.
The submissions were made by the CBI in a short written reply while opposing the senior Aam Aadmi Party leader's bail plea, which it said was devoid of any merit and was an attempt to misuse the intricacies of law to thwart the progress of investigation in the case.
Kumar deposed before the federal probe agency in New Delhi and the investigators are recording his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti, which reserved its verdict on two separate regular bail pleas of Sisodia in the corruption and money laundering cases, told the ED it cannot go by the assumption of bribe having been paid, and whatever protection an accused enjoys under law needs to be granted.
Former Central Bureau of Investigation joint director Amit Kumar, who is now posted as Chhattisgarh police ADG, led the probe into the coal scam that resulted in convictions in a number of cases.
The agency will also record Kavitha's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Kejriwal (55) has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and according to the sources, the agency will record his statement once he deposes before the investigating officer of the case in Delhi.
The CBI has alleged that Singh had transferred funds through hawala channels to Chariot Media that was handling the AAP's publicity campaign during the Goa elections, the officials said.
Sisodia went to his party office in the morning from where he proceeded to Rajghat. A large number of his supporters gathered outside his residence ahead of his questioning.
Instances of non-functional CCTV cameras installed at some clubs, hotels and restaurants have come to the notice of the department's enforcement branch during inspections, they said.
Rescue efforts to reach eight people trapped inside a partially collapsed tunnel in Telangana have been intensified with an increased deployment of personnel and equipment. Scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) have located four of the trapped workers using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The damaged conveyor belt is expected to be repaired by Monday, allowing for easier removal of debris. The Chief Minister is scheduled to visit the site and hold a review meeting with officials. The condition of the four located workers is said to be grim.
The bench has divided the hearing on Kejriwal's petition against his arrest into two parts. His main petition challenges his arrest by the ED and seeks it to be declared as illegal, while the second aspect pertains to grant of interim bail keeping in mind the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The court has reserved the order on the issue of grant of interim bail.
The officials said the members of the South Lobby, which wanted to swing the policy in its favour with exorbitant profits for liquor wholesalers, had stayed in the hotel in the national capital from March 14 to 17 in 2021 and used its business centre to make photocopies of some documents.
