SC grants bail to excise policy case accused businessman Amandeep Dhall

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall in a corruption case linked to the alleged excise policy scam noting he had been in jail for over a year and the trial was unlikely to conclude soon.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted there were about 300 witnesses to be examined by the CBI and the trial in the case was yet to commence.

The bench observed Dhall’s further detention would not serve any purpose and granted him the reprieve subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the trial court.

At the outset, the bench told the CBI lawyer the focus of the agency must be on conviction.

“You must focus on the conviction rate. The quality of your witnesses needs to be the focus, instead of the number of arrests,” the bench said.

Dhall, who was directed to appear before the trial court on each hearing, moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court’s June 4 verdict rejecting his bail plea.

The CBI had arrested Dhall in April, 2023.

He is among the other key accused persons — AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, BRS leader K Kavitha, AAP’s Manish Sisodia, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, AAP’s former communication in-charge Vijay Nair, Hyderabad businessmen Abhishek Boinpally and Arun Pillai and liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru — to have been granted bail in the case.

Raghav Magunta Reddy, son of YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, businessmen Dinesh Arora and P Sarath Chandra Reddy had turned approver in the case.

An approver admits to the offence and agrees to testify against the other accused in the case.

Dhall, accused in separate cases linked to the alleged scam being probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has been accused of conspiring with other accused persons. He was “actively” involved in the formulation of the liquor policy and facilitating kickbacks to the AAP and its recoupment by the “south group” through various means, the central probe agency alleged.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.

The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021 and scrapped it by the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.

The Delhi High Court in its June 4 bail rejection order said allegations against Dhall were serious in nature.

It observed Dhall didn’t qualify for the triple test for bail as he knew many witnesses in the case and was in touch with the “influential leaders” of AAP at the time of the alleged conspiracy.

The high court further underlined an FIR against Dhall was registered for allegedly bribing an ED officer for getting his name removed from the case.