ED arrests liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru in Delhi excise policy money laundering case

New Delhi, Sep 28: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru in Delhi excise policy money laundering case.

Indospirit's Managing Director Sameer Mahendru was once the agency's key witness against two infrastructure and development officials convicted for graft in 2013, according to officials.

He was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was put through a night-long questioning session. He is expected to be produced before a local court where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will seek his further remand.

The ED action comes a day after the CBI arrested businessman Vijay Nair in this case in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused. The ED money laundering case is based on a CBI FIR and both the federal agencies have undertaken multiple search operations in this case till now.

The CBI FIR has alleged that Arjun Pandey, an alleged associate of Sisodia, had once collected about Rs 2-4 crore in cash from Mahendru on behalf of Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company.

The CBI has raided multiple places in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the policy.

The policy was rolled back by the Delhi government last month.