Supreme Court grants interim bail to Abhishek Boinpally in Delhi excise policy case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally in a money-laundering case against him in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam. [Abhishek Boinpally vs Directorate of Enforcement]..A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta granted Boinpally relief for four weeks. "Let the petitioner be released on interim bail for 4 weeks. Let the bail be granted to the satisfaction of trial courts. He shall surrender passport and would be allowed to travel to Hyderabad. List this on week commencing April 29, 2024," the bench directed..The Delhi High Court had in July 2023 denied Boinpally bail in the case leading to the appeal before the apex court.This led to the instant appeal in the top court, in which the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was sought in August 2023.Boinpally has been accused of lobbying for certain liquor businessmen based in southern India. It is alleged that he was part of a conspiracy in pursuance of which he transferred money through hawala channels to co-accused.Further, he was allegedly involved in the conversion of bribe money into legitimate funds..Boinpally was represented before the top court by Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary along with advocates Sumer Singh Boparai, Sidharth Saraswat, Ruby Singh Ahuja, Ishan Gaur, Aakriti Vohra and Jappanpreet Hora, briefed by a team from Karanjawala & Co..The case arose out of the criminal complaint registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). As per ED, officials of the Delhi government had connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes.The central agencies' case is that the excise policy was tweaked and the profit margins changed to benefit certain traders. Kickbacks were received in exchange for the same, it has been alleged.The ED and the CBI registered cases in relation to the alleged scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary.Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh are also implicated in the case and continue to be behind bars.