A Delhi court will on Tuesday pronounce its order on taking cognizance of two supplementary charge sheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering probe related to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. The charge sheets name Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and two other accused, Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur.
The ED’s seventh supplementary charge sheet names Kejriwal and AAP as accused, alleging that they were involved in money laundering related to the excise policy case. The agency has relied on chats between Kejriwal and hawala operators regarding alleged proceeds of crime, which were recovered from the devices of hawala operators after Kejriwal refused to share the password of his devices.
The eighth supplementary charge sheet names Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur, alleging that they were involved in hawala transactions and cash movements related to the excise policy scam. Chauhan is accused of facilitating the transfer of ₹25.5 crores from Delhi to Goa during the Goa assembly elections of 2022 and arranging meetings of high court judges with Kejriwal.
The ED’s investigation revealed that Chauhan was in touch with Ashok Kaushik, the former private secretary of BRS leader K Kavitha, linked to the South Group. Kaushik admitted to collecting cash-filled bags from businessman-turned-approver Dinesh Arora’s office upon the direction of another accused Abhishek Boinpally and delivering them to Chauhan.
The agency has also alleged that Chauhan was aware that the money amounting to ₹25.5 crore was related to the Delhi liquor excise policy scam and was holding it for AAP leaders. During the search conducted by ED at various locations, an amount of ₹1.06 crore was seized from Chauhan’s residence.
Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21 after the Delhi high court denied his request for interim protection from arrest. The money laundering case stems from the investigation initiated by the CBI regarding the Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy, which was scrapped following allegations of irregularities.
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