Supreme Court extends interim bail to businessman Abhishek Boinpally in Delhi Excise policy 'scam' case
New Delhi, August 13
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally’s interim bail in a money laundering case linked to Delhi excise policy ‘scam’.
A Bench led by Justice MM Sundresh deferred the hearing to October 14 as Additional Solicitor General SV Raju – who was to represent the Enforcement Directorate was not available.
On behalf of Boinpally, senior advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that the petitioner was arrested in October 2022 and some other accused, including AAP leader Manish Sisodia, have already been granted bail.
Advocate Zoheb Hossain, representing the ED, pointed out that Boinpally has been out on interim bail since March 6 owing to his wife’s health condition.
The Bench extended his interim bail and adjourned the matter as Hossain said it should be heard in the presence of ASG.
On March 20, the top court had ordered Boinpally's release on interim bail for five weeks, noting that the businessman has been in custody for 18 months.
Since then, his interim bail has been extended from time to time by the apex court. It had asked him to surrender his passport and directed him to not leave the National Capital Region (NCR) except for a visit to Hyderabad.
Boinpally has challenged the July 3, 2023, order of the Delhi High Court that dismissed his petition questioning the legality of his arrest in 2022. He had contested his arrest before the high court on the grounds of non-compliance with section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) which deals with the procedure for arrests.
Section 19 of the PMLA empowers authorised officials of the ED to arrest people based on the material in their possession, providing a reasonable basis to suspect that an individual has committed an offence punishable under the law.
The Delhi government implemented the excise policy for 2021-22 on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
The CBI and the ED alleged irregularities in modifying the excise policy to extend undue favours to the licence holders.
The probe agencies accused Boinpally of being a part of clandestine meetings and a conspiracy to launder money along with another accused Sameer Mahendru, a businessman dealing in liquor.
