ED arrests businessman Dinesh Arora in Delhi Excise policy-linked money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night arrested businessman Dinesh Arora in connection with its money laundering probe linked to the alleged corruption in the framing and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, official sources said. Incidentally, Arora has been declared an approver in the same case being probed by the CBI too. The businessman is allegedly close to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who is an accused in the excise policy case. This is the 13th arrest in this case by the ED in which it has filed five charge sheets, including against Sisodia. It has been alleged by the ED and the CBI that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi has charge strongly refuted the charge. The excise policy was scrapped after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the corruption allegation, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.