NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, probing the money laundering and corruption investigations in the Delhi liquor scam, arrested two more accused on Wednesday.
Punjab-based businessman Gautam Malhotra and Hyderabad-based chartered accountant, Butchibabu Gorantla, were nabbed in the money laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, in which huge amounts of kickback originated out of the ‘tweaked’ policy that favoured ‘liquor lobbies’ and was allegedly laundered and distributed amongst middlemen, government and politicians.
Gautam, son of former SAD MLA Deepak Malhotra and also a close aide of F&B business entrepreneur and an accused in the excise case Dinesh Arora, was arrested on Tuesday night. Gautam was remanded in ED custody for interrogation till February 15.
According to ED, Gautam had allegedly played a key role in cartelisation and was also involved in moving illicit money and proceeds of crime to various persons, including politicians. Officials said Malhotra is the promoter of the Oasis group of Punjab and he was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They alleged he was “evasive” in his replies and his role under the charges of cartelisation vis-a-vis the excise policy formulated by the Delhi government.
Malhotra’s liquor manufacturing and distribution business is spread across Punjab and other regions like Delhi and UP, officials said. In another action, the CBI arrested a Hyderabad-based chartered accountant, Butchibabu Gorantla, for his alleged role in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, which caused wrongful gain to Hyderabad-based wholesale and retail licensees and their beneficial owners resulting in huge losses to the Delhi exchequer.
According to CBI sources Gorantla, the CA was earlier associated with K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana CM KC Rao. A special CBI court remanded Gorantla to two days of CBI custody. Gorantla was arrested after he was called to Delhi by the CBI for questioning. He was questioned 15 times between August and October last year at the agency’s offices in New Delhi and Hyderabad.
The officials said he concealed material facts related to the conspiracy behind the alleged offence, incriminating WhatsApp chats retrieved from his mobile phones, the role of the other accused, including public servants, as well as the trail of the ill-gotten money sent by the accused through hawala channels.
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