The curious link between a Hyderabad firm’s electoral bonds to BJP and the Delhi liquor policy case

Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 15 after allegations that she was involved in money laundering in the Delhi excise policy.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal faces imminent arrest in the case, while Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been in prison for the same case since February 2023.

The electoral bond data made public on Thursday evening throws up an interesting detail in the case. It turns out that a company whose director is Kavitha’s co-accused, and went on to turn approver in the case, had donated Rs 5 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party, just five days after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

Hyderabad-based businessman P Sarath Chandra Reddy is one of the directors of Aurobindo Pharma Limited, founded by his father PV Ram Prasad Reddy. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor scam case on November 10, 2022. On November 15, his company Aurobindo Pharma bought electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore. All of them were encashed by the BJP soon after, on November 21, 2022.

Sarath turned approver in the case in June 2023. In November 2023, Aurobindo Pharma...

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