Excise Fiasco
Role of world’s leading liquor maker under lens

There is a buzz in Delhi that the investigative agencies may probe the role of one of the leading liquor manufacturers of the world in violating the statutory provisions of the excise policy notified by the state government for the year 2021-22. Sources said the consumption of liquor in Delhi was about 10 lakh cases per annum before the introduction of the new excise policy. Under the new regime, the sale jumped to about 15 lakh cases. This was because the said manufacturer offered huge discounts to select retailers who were able to offer liquor at fifty per cent discount. There is also talk of this manufacturer lending financial support to some zonal retailers. The nexus between manufacturers and retailers is one of the angles being probed by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing. The CBI too has been asked to probe this nexus. Agencies will also be probing the connections between retailers and wholesalers. The new excise policy 2021-22 expressly emphasizes that a manufacturer cannot be a retailer or a wholesaler, a wholesaler cannot engage in retailing or manufacturing of liquor, and similarly, only such parties that are not engaged in manufacturing or wholesaling can enter the retailing business. Investigators have been informed about cross-connections in some cases, sources said. It is in this context that the name of the leading liquor manufacturer is being mentioned.

High Life
Jet-setting Kejriwal is far from an Aam Aadmi

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal made headlines when he refused to move into the chief ministerial bungalow and rejected a security offer by Delhi Police after defeating the Congress in Delhi assembly election in 2013. Kejriwal said he was against the VIP culture of living in bungalows and turned down the security offer saying God was his protector. The chief minister, however, soon moved into his official bungalow in north Delhi’s Civil Lines. He also went back on his initial decision not to use an official car. But those were Kejriwal’s initial days as a politician. Today, the Delhi chief minister loves to travel in private jets. He recently flew to Jalandhar in a Club One Dassault Falcon owned by a prominent businessman of the National Capital Region. The cost of hiring a Falcon is approximately Rs 4 lakh per hour. A bill of about Rs 15 lakh has been presented to the state government’s finance department for clearing. Kejriwal had earlier flown from Punjab to Gujarat, along with Bhagwant Mann, in another private jet. An RTI query filed in Punjab revealed that the state paid about Rs 45 lakh for that flight.Leaders of the BJP and Congress also fly private jets. But they do not make austerity as much of an issue as Kejriwal did. Kejriwal has clearly moved far away from the aamaadmi.

Cash Haul
Soren’s survival instinct got Congress MLAs in police net

It was Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren who had asked the police to follow the three Congress MLAs when they left together in one car for Bengal from Jamtara in Jharkhand, sources said. The three MLAs have been on CM’s radar who suspected them of conspiring with the opposition BJP to pull down the JMM-Congress-RJD government in the state. When the Jamtara police reported to the state DGP about the movement of MLAs, the DGP immediately alerted the Chief Minister. The CM reportedly asked the DGP to get cops to tail them and find out what they were up to. When the CM was informed that the MLAs were suspected to have received a huge amount of cash from an unknown person after crossing into adjoining West Bengal, the CM asked the state police to inform the Bengal police about the payout. The Bengal police arrested the three Congress MLAs on a specific tipoff by their Jharkhand counterpart. The Superintendent of Police of Howrah rural where the MLAs were arrested confirmed that the arrest was made following a specific tipoff. The Congress central leadership, while suspending the three MLAs, said the money was a payout for cross-voting in the Presidential election.