New Delhi, May 29 – Enforcement Directorate (ED) sources have revealed that former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia had used 43 SIM cards in 14 different mobile phones in connection to the Excise Police scam.
It has also been alleged that he destroyed the phones to hinder the investigation and erase evidence.
The sources claimed that out of 43 SIM cards, the ED probe revealed that the only five were issued in the AAP leader’s name or or were owned by him.
“The phone that was used prior to the one seized by the CBI was broken and is no longer in my possession. I don’t remember where the damaged phone is now,” Sisodia told the ED.
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The ED collected information regarding the real owners of the 14 mobile phones allegedly destroyed by Sisodia. It was discovered that these phones were bought and owned by Devender Sharma, Sudhir Kumar, Javed Khan and a company named Romado Clothes.
Interestingly, Romado Clothes bought the phone but cheated the seller, as their cheque bounced. The phone owner has now filed a cheque bounce case against the firm under section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act.
Devender alias Rinku, a close aide of Sisodia was using the phone of Javed Khan, on behalf of the AAP leader.
Devender borrowed the phone from Khan for some One Time Password (OTP) work for Sisodia in September 2022. However, the phone was formatted in October 2022, and the ED could not retrieve the OTP related SMS.
Two phones were submitted by Sisodia. The forensic report of the phones established that Sisodia reinstalled Signal and Whatsapp on July 23, 2022, shortly after media reports surfaced about the L-G order for a CBI Inquiry into the scam.
The ED sources said that Sisodia had been using an iPhone 13 Max Pro for 11 months, but destroyed it soon after the L-G’s order.
The AAP leader told investigators that he had no idea where the damaged phone was.
The ED has claimed that by destroying the phones, Sisodia created a legal facade.
The ED’s case is based on an FIR of the CBI. The ED has filed four charge sheets as of now and they are further investigating the matter.
Sisodia generated Rs 622.67 cr POC in Excise Policy scam: ED
The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) ongoing probe into the Delhi’s Excise Policy scam has revealed that former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had allegedly generated Rs 622.67 crore Proceeds of Crime (POC) through different modus operandi, sources said.
The ED sources said the POC was generated through credit notes, hawala channel and direct kickbacks.
This latest allegation has been mentioned in the charge sheet.
The ED further alleged that Sisodia facilitated the formation a special purpose vehicle to created a recoupment apparatus.
“Rs 100 crore kickbacks were paid by the South Group to Vijay Nair. Indospirits acquired an L1 License with the help of Sisodia and Nair, it made a proft of Rs 192.8 crore which is POC. The outstanding payments of three entities controlled by Sarath Reddy, Trident Chemphar, Avantika Contractors and Organomix Ecosystems towards Indospirits is Rs 60 crore. This outstanding payment is POC. Excess Credit Notes of Rs 4.35 crore were issued by Indospirits, profits of Rs 163.5 crore were accrued by Pernod Ricard, this firm formed a super cartel with the South Group and further accrued a profit of Rs 45.77 crore, these are all deemed as POC,” the sources said.
They said the ED further learned that the South Group infused excess cash Rs 41.13 crore into the account of entities belonging to Sarath Reddy. It was nothing but an illegal way to recouping the kickbacks.
When questioned, the finance team failed to provide any satisfactory reason to the ED.
The ED has alleged that apart from this through misuse of Punjab government’s machinery and arm-twisting Mahadev Liquors, two firms — Shiv Associates and Diwan Spirits — accrued a profit of Rs 8.02 crore, accused Amit Arora paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to Sisodia through Dinesh Arora and bribe of Rs 4.9 crore given by Aman Dhall through an excess credit note, which it nothing but POC.
“If we add up all the POC, it will turn out to be 622.67 crore. We have termed the whole amount as POC,” said the sources.
The ED after thoroughly probing the matter they have filed a watertight chargesheet. The ED is also likely to file their fifth chargesheet in the coming days.
