ED questions 3 Punjab officials over excise policy

Chandigarh, September 16

Two IAS officers and a Joint Commissioner in the state Excise Department have been summoned and questioned by Enforcement Directorate sleuths in the excise policy scam.

According to information available with The Tribune, the then Additional Chief Secretary in Excise Department, Excise and Taxation Commissioner and a Joint Commissioner in the department were summoned by ED and questioned about the state excise policy that was approved in June.

While the Excise and Taxation Commissioner and Joint Commissioner — Varun Roojam and Naresh Dubey — were questioned by the ED last week as well after a search and seizure operation at their residences here, ACS KAP Sinhad been called for questioning earlier this week. Roojam and Dubey were questioned again yesterday.

The trio was reportedly present at the meeting to discuss the Excise Policy with Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and two others — Vijay Nair and Dinesh Arora — whose names have come up in the investigation of the Delhi Excise Policy.

The Punjab Excise Policy is under the scanner after reports of allotment of wholesale liquor licences to two Delhi-based companies for IMFL and ‘Bottled in Origin’ (BIO) liquor had come out. The two companies are under the scanner for their role in the Delhi Excise Policy and they have been appointed as L1 licencees for IMFL and BIO liquor.