Benoy Babu, the Regional Manager of Pernod Ricard India, has been granted parole by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy fraud. According to Live Law’s report on December 8, the Supreme Court has approved bail for Benoy Babu, who has been detained in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti noted that the defendant had been in detention for over thirteen months without the commencement of his trial. Justice Sanjiv Khanna informed Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the Enforcement Directorate (ED), about the parole decision and emphasized the impracticality of detaining individuals for an extended period before their trial. He expressed concerns about the uncertain course of events and the apparent contradictory allegations made by the CBI and ED.
Senior counsel for Babu, Harish Salve, argued that the ED’s investigation against his client was entirely baseless. He pointed out that, according to the ED’s case, Babu had met Vijay Nair (Aam Aadmi Party’s communication in-charge and an accused in the Delhi excise policy case) on March 27, 2021, even though the draft excise policy had been announced on March 22, 2021.
Justice Khanna instructed Additional Solicitor General Raju to grant parole to Babu in the case, emphasizing that the ED cannot detain an individual for an extended period before the trial begins. The bench stated, “Extremely lengthy pretrial detention remains.” It noted that while Babu is a prosecution witness in the CBI case, he is considered an accused in the ED case and directed his release on parole.
Earlier, on December 4, a Delhi court had denied Benoy Babu interim parole. Babu had previously been granted a 4.5-month interim parole on medical grounds, citing dental disease and a degenerating jawbone as reasons for his request.
Benoy Babu was arrested on November 10, 2022, by the Enforcement Directorate and is currently in judicial custody.
