Excise policy case: SC judge Sanjay Kumar recuses himself from hearing businessman's plea

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the arrest of Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

As soon as the matter came up for hearing, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it would go before another bench as Justice Kumar would not like to hear this matter.

The bench directed that the matter be listed before another bench, of which Justice Kumar is not part, in the week commencing August 5.

It directed that the interim bail, which was granted to Boinpally owing to the condition of his wife suffering from various ailments, be extended till further orders.

On March 20, the top court noted that the businessman has been in custody for 18 months and directed his release on interim bail for five weeks. Since then, Boinpally's interim bail has been extended from time to time by the apex court.

While granting interim bail, the top court had asked Boinpally to surrender his passport and directed him to not leave the National Capital Region (NCR) except for a visit to Hyderabad.

The businessman has challenged the July 3, 2023, order of the Delhi High Court that dismissed his petition questioning the legality of his arrest in 2022.

The businessman 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.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.

The money-laundering case stems from the CBI FIR that was lodged after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy.

It has been claimed that Boinpally was part of clandestine meetings and was involved in a conspiracy to launder money along with another accused Sameer Mahendru, a businessman dealing in liquor.