A court here Wednesday extended by three days the custody parole granted to Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, arrested in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam, on ground of his wife’s medical condition.
Special Judge M K Nagpal, who had on December 7 granted five-day custody parole to Pillai on the grounds of his wife’s health, extended the relief, noting that the ED failed to file a reply to his interim bail application in the case.
The judge noted the submissions made by Advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for Pillai, that if the parole of the accused was not extended and he is brought back to Delhi tonight, “it will defeat the purpose of grant of custody parole and will also render the pending interim bail application of accused as infructuous.” “Therefore, keeping in view the facts and circumstances and submissions being made by counsel for accused, custody parole of accused is being extended till December 16, 2023,” the judge said. During the hearing, the judge noted that though a copy of the application was stated to have been supplied to the investigating officer yesterday, no reply was filed on behalf of ED, which asked for some time for verification of the documents.
“However, in considered opinion of this court, the reply to application should have been filed today itself, pending verification of the documents, if required, as any delay in filing of the reply will frustrate the very purpose for which it has been moved,” the judge said. Rana had filed the application, seeking a 12-week interim bail, claiming that the accused’s wife was required to undergo surgery and that he needed to be “physically present with his wife for moral support” while she undergoes the medical procedure.
The ED had claimed that Pillai is a close aide of BRS MLC and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha and the front man of the liquor cartel “South Group.” It has been alleged that the “South Group” had paid kickbacks amounting to around Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22. Pillai was arrested by the ED on March 6 amid allegations that he represented the “South Group” in meetings with other accused when the excise policy was being formulated and implemented.
The Delhi excise policy was scrapped in August last year, followed by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor ordering a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities and corruption in the policy.
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