New Delhi: The Delhi excise policy, scrapped over allegations of corruption, was “leaked” to certain liquor manufacturers much before its release and a probe found that three dozen VIPs, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, changed as many as 140 mobile phones with the intention to destroy digital evidence, the ED said on Thursday.

This was done in exchange of bribes and kickbacks to Delhi excise officials and the members of the Delhi govt

The ED informed this to a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court after it arrested two executives – Benoy Babu, Delhi regional head of French wine company Pernod Ricard, and P Sarath Chandra Reddy, whole-time director of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.

Aurobindo Pharma informed the stock exchange that Reddy was “not in any way connected with the operations of Aurobindo Pharma Limited or its subsidiaries”.

“The Delhi govt/excise department under the influence of accused persons allowed the formation as well as operation of cartels even when enough information was available on public platforms to indicate cartelisation by majority of the licence holders.

“This was done in exchange of bribes and kickbacks to Delhi excise officials and the members of the Delhi govt…,” the agency alleged while seeking the remand of the two.

It said several people questioned by it during the course of the investigation “have revealed that bribe to the time of Rs 100 crore had been given in advance for undue benefits to select business groups to operate in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.”

“It has also been found that kickbacks and bribes were demanded and taken by the excise officials of Delhi for opening of retail shops in Delhi.”

The agency said “34 important persons involved/suspected to be involved in the excise scam have changed total 140 phones (valued at about Rs 1.20 crore) with intention to destroy digital evidence during relevant period.”

“These persons includes all the main accused, liquor barons, senior government officials, excise minister of Delhi and other suspects. The timing of change of phone indicates that these phones were mostly changed just after the scam surfaced,” it said.