New Delhi: Following Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, it is now revealed from electoral bond data that a company linked to P Sarath Chandra Reddy, an accused in the Delhi excise policy case, donated to the BJP a total of Rs 30 crore of which Rs 25 crore was donated after Reddy turned approver in the case, The News Minute reported.
The electoral bond data released by the Election Commission showed that the company in question as having donated Rs 5 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022 five days after Reddy was arrested and additional Rs 25 crore was donated after Reddy turned approver, according to the report.
P Sarath Chandra Reddy, a businessman based in Hyderabad and one of the directors of Aurobindo Pharma Limited founded by his father PV Ram Prasad Reddy, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor scam case on November 11, 2022.
Aurobindo Pharma bought electoral bond worth Rs 5 crore on November 15 which the BJP encashed on November 21,2022 . Reddy turned approver in June 2023 and later in November 2023, the company donated Rs 25 crore to the saffron party, according to the report.
Of the total bonds worth Rs 52 crore that the company bought, Rs 34.5 crore has gone to the BJP and alongside the company gave Rs 15 crore to Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Rs 2.5 crore to the Telugu Desam Party.
The central agency ED accused Sarath Chandra Reddy of having played 'a key role’ in dealing with kickbacks in the AAP government’s liquor licensing process as the policy was implemented in 2021-22.
It is to be noted that Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of former CM of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao, was also arrested less than a week ago in the case.
Sarath Chandra Reddy and Kavitha are among several others from Telug states whom the ED termed as the ‘ South Group’, the report said.
The ED alleged that the individuals in the South Group gave to Aam Aadmi Party kickback worth nearly Rs 100 core through Vijay Nair, who was in charge of AAP’s communications, to gain control over Delhi’s liquor business.
It is further alleged that Aam Aadmi Party used this money during the 2022 Goa Assembly elections, according to the report.
A Delhi court on June 1, 2023 allowed Sarath Chandra Reddy to turn approver in the case and later two others of ‘South Group’ Ongole MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy and his son Raghav followed the suit, alongside Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Arora.