Liquor policy case approver’s firm bought poll bonds, BJP benefited

New Delhi, March 23

Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore on November 15, 2022, a transaction which was made just days after one of its directors P Sarath Chandra Reddy was arrested in relation with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Later, Reddy had in June 2023 turned an approver in the excise policy case, after receiving a clearance from the court. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on March 21 arrested by ED in connection with the case, and was remanded in six-day custody by a Delhi court.

According to data released on bonds by the Election Commission of India (ECI) last week, bonds worth Rs 5 crore purchased by Aurobindo Pharma were encashed by the BJP on November 21, 2022.

Meanwhile, the company had bought bonds worth Rs 52 crore between April 2021 and November 2023. Of this total amount, around Rs 35 crore was donated to the BJP, while Rs 15 crore were given to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Rs 2 crore to Telugu Desam Party.

TDP is incidentally contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BJP. Six months after his arrest, in May 2023, Reddy was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on medical grounds. Later, in June 2023, Reddy had turned approver in the case.

The ECI data also stated that Reddy’s company bought electoral bonds worth Rs 25 crore on November 8, 2023, and the BJP encashed this amount on November 17, 2023.