Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday arrested Punjab-based businessman Gautam Malhotra in connection with its ongoing probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 alleged money-laundering case. He has been accused of cartelisation.
Gautam is son of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Faridkot, Deep Malhotra, who is an established liquor baron in Punjab, and the chairman and managing director (MD) of the Oasis Group, which deals in manufacturing and distribution of alcohol.
Gautam is a director in the Oasis Group, along with his elder brother Gauravh.
Said to be close to the leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is currently in power in Punjab and Delhi, Gautam has been in news recently.
In October last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his properties in Punjab, including in his hometown Faridkot, in the excise policy case. The raids were conducted days after the ED arrested Sameer Mahendru, MD of Delhi’s Jor Bagh-based liquor distribution company Indospirit Group in the case.
Last month, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the closure of Malhotra’s liquor-producing unit in Mansurwal village in Zira tehsil of Ferozepur, following a six-month long protest by villagers who said the unit, Malbros International Private Ltd, was causing pollution.
Malhotra is a director of the Malbros factory as well. He is said to manage the liquor markets of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, apart from running the Oasis Group’s distilleries in Ambala and Madhya Pradesh’s Indore.
Gauravh, on the other hand, is said to manage the Punjab-based retail, wholesale and distillation operations of liquor. The company’s first distillation plant was started by the late Om Prakash Malhotra, Gautam’s paternal grandfather, near Indore in 2001.
The Oasis Group, established in 1987, runs five grain-based distilleries and five bottling plants with a combined grain spirit production of 20 crore bulk litres annually.
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Zira liquor plant
In the Zira factory case, protesters camped outside the factory are continuing their agitation despite the closure announcement of three weeks ago, because they are awaiting official orders from the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office backing the declaration.
The villagers had started their protest at the factory gate in July last year, forcing closure of the unit, alleging that the discharge from the plant was causing water, air and soil pollution in nearby areas.
A few months after the protest started, the factory’s management moved the Punjab & Haryana High Court seeking reopening of the unit.
Following the orders of the high court, the Ferozepur administration last December tried to shift the protesters from outside the factory’s main gate. This led to clashes between the police and the villagers and, over a course of three days, the crowds swelled from hundreds to thousands, with various factions of the Bhartiya Kisan Union lending support and resources.
The protesters, led by Zira Sanjha Morcha, have alleged that the AAP government is supporting the factory’s management on the ground as well as in court.
Orders of the high court asking the Punjab government to deposit Rs 20 crore in the court registry, as compensation to the factory owner for the losses incurred by him, were not challenged by the state.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also read: Zira liquor factory: ‘Give it to us in writing,’ say protesters after Mann promises to shut plant