CBI Files Supplementary Chargesheet Against 5 In Delhi Excise Scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a second supplementary chargesheet before a court in Delhi against five accused including the Director of Chariot Productions Media in an ongoing investigation in an alleged excise scam case.

The accused named in the second supplementary chargesheet have been identified as Rajesh Joshi, Director of Chariot Productions Media; Damodar Prasad Sharma, Employee of Chariot Productions Media; Prince Kumar, Employee of Chariot Productions Media; Arvind Kumar Singh, an employee of a media channel and Chanpreet Singh Rayat.

In a statement, CBI mentioned that a case was registered on 17 August 2022 against the then Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and others including then Commissioner (Excise), then Deputy Commissioner (Excise), then Assistant Commissioner (Excise), all of GNCTD, Delhi; 10 liquor licences, their associates and unknown others on a reference from MHA(GOI) related to alleged irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD, Delhi.

It was further alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licences, waiver and reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc.  It was also alleged that Illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts.

Searches were earlier conducted at various locations including in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of incriminating documents and articles, digital records etc.

During the investigation, several accused were also arrested. Earlier, a chargesheet was filed in November 2022 against seven accused including then Deputy Commissioner(Excise), then Assistant Commissioner (Excise) and private persons and a supplementary chargesheet was filed in April 2023 against four accused including then Deputy Chief Minister, GNCTD of Delhi and private persons.

Further investigation into the case is underway.

During further investigation, the alleged role of said accused was found in respect of the transfer of ill-gotten money amounting to Rs.44.54 crore(approx) to Goa through the Hawala channel. (ANI)