While the BJP is using the Delhi Liquor scam to corner opposition parties like AAP and BRS during the Lok Sabha election period, fresh evidence exposed BJP’s links with one of the key accused. The accused, who had donated funds to parties like BRS, TDP and BJP, before his arrest in the case, after turning approver and released from jail found donated BJP alone in the form of electoral bonds.

The Aam Aadmi Party countered the Enforcement Directorate’s `kingpin of liquor policy scam’ charge against Chief Minister and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, and alleged the money went to the BJP via electoral bonds. A scrutiny of the ED’s remand application seeking custody of Kejriwal  juxtaposed with bonds purchases by Aurobindo Pharma reveals:  i) purchases made before the arrest of the company’s director by the ED were encashed by multiple political parties — BRS, TDP and BJP, and ii) purchases made after his arrest, statement to ED, and turning an approver, were encashed only by the BJP.

The timing of Aurobindo’s bond purchases and redemptions by political parties is of importance in the wake of the agency’s reliance on the statement of the company’s non-executive director P Sarath Chandra Reddy on April 25, 2023, given to it, to claim Kejriwal is the “kingpin and key conspirator” in the case.  

The ED had alleged that Sarath Chandra Reddy and K Kavitha were part of the ‘South Group’ that paid Rs 100 crore in bribes in the excise policy case to the AAP. Of this, Rs 45 crore was alleged to have been routed through hawala for funding the party’s Goa election campaign in 2022.

Reddy was arrested in the case on November 10, 2022. The dataset on electoral bond purchases and redemptions made public by the Election Commission of India, shows that on November 15, 2022, Aurobindo Pharma bought bonds worth Rs 5 crore. The BJP encashed this sum on November 21, 2022.

Reddy recorded a statement with the ED on April 25, 2023, and on June 1, 2023, a special court allowed him to turn approver in the case and subsequently granted pardon. Just months after he recorded a statement in the case, now cited by the ED as crucial evidence for Kejriwal’s arrest, Aurobindo Pharma purchased bonds worth Rs 25 crore on November 8, 2023. All these bonds were redeemed by the BJP on November 17, 2023.

Electoral bond data from April 2021 to October 2022 reveals that before Reddy’s arrest, Aurobindo Pharma bought bonds totalling Rs 22 crore. Of this amount, Telangana-based BRS encashed Rs 15 crore, while BJP and TDP encashed Rs 4.5 crore and 2.5 crore, respectively.

“He (Sharat Chandra Reddy) gave electoral bonds worth ₹4.5 crore to BJP. And then also gave bonds worth ₹55 crores. Where is the money trail? Money trail was found in the BJP’s account. I challenge Prime Minister Narendra and ED, to arrest BJP national president JP Nadda,” AAP Minister Atishi said. She lleged that the money trail was found in the BJP’s account and dared the central probe agency to ‘arrest’ BJP national president JP Nadda.