Is Punjab Excise Policy Formation Linked to Kejriwal?

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its remand application for extension of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's custody in connection with the excise policy case claimed that some wholesalers in the national capital were arm-twisted by the senior excise officials in Punjab after the demand of bribes in Delhi were refused.

A Delhi court on Thursday extended the ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded to ED custody till March 28 (Thursday).

The probe agency in its remand application in court on Thursday said that during Kejriwal's six-day custody, summons were issued to senior excise officials in Punjab who were involved in the arm-twisting of certain wholesalers of Delhi when they refused to pay the demanded bribes in Delhi.

"The factories of these wholesalers were either shut down or not allowed to dispatch their goods in Punjab by Punjab excise officials when the demands of bribes were not fulfilled in Delhi. However, they could not appear on these summons due to hooch tragedy in Sangrur, Punjab, and sought some time," it read.

The ED had summoned three Punjab officials -- two IAS officers, KAP Sinha and Varun Roojam, and additional excise commissioner Naresh Dubey.

It has been alleged that all three officials were involved in devising Punjab's excise policy in 2022.

In 2022, the ED conducted searches at the residences of Roojam in Sector 20, Chandigarh, and joint commissioner (excise) Naresh Dubey in Panchkula. Previously, the trio had also been summoned by the ED in relation to the same case in 2022.

Furthermore, the ED claimed that Roojam and Dubey were present at the residence of Manish Sisodia, who is also under arrest in connection with the Delhi excise case, when the Punjab policy was formulated.

"The trio faces scrutiny following the statement of Deepa Chadha, who alleged that she was pressurised by Punjab authorities to surrender her L1 licence in Delhi by disrupting the operations of her Punjab-based distillery," as per sources.

In 2023, the Punjab government declined the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) request to conduct probe against two senior IAS officers from Punjab regarding the purported Delhi excise policy scam.