Excise policy 'scam': Delhi court grants bail to 'middleman' Vinod Chauhan in money-laundering case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to "middleman" Vinod Chauhan in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja granted the relief to Chauhan, who was accused of transferring cash sourced through alleged kickbacks given by the "South Group" to the AAP, for the party's poll campaign in Goa.

Chauhan was given bail on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May.

On June 28, the ED filed a supplementary chargesheet against Chauhan in the case.

He was the 18th person to be arrested by the ED in the case, in which the federal agency had also taken into custody Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal, his party colleague and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, BRS leader and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's politician daughter K Kavitha, several liquor businessmen and others.

The ED had mentioned Chauhan's alleged role in the case in an official document submitted before a court in relation to Kavitha's arrest.

The agency had earlier alleged that of the Rs 100-crore bribe money given to the AAP in connection with the Delhi excise policy by the "South Group" -- consisting of Kavitha and some others -- an amount of Rs 45 crore was used for the party's Goa Assembly poll campaign.

The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was scrapped subsequently.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Taking cognisance of an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money-laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.