On Monday, May 15, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that Arvind Kumar Singh, the commercial head and production controller of Noida-based India Ahead news channel in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam on Friday. Following his arrest on the same day, Special CBI Judge M. K. Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Court remanded Singh to CBI custody till May 18.
According to a CBI official, “Arvind Kumar Singh was arrested on Friday for allegedly transferring Rs 17 crore over hawala networks to a firm, which was handling the Aam Aadmi Party’s publicity campaign during the Goa assembly elections.”
During the investigation, the CBI recovered WhatsApp chats and hawala operator data indicating that Singh had been involved in the hawala transactions of Rs 17 crore between June 2021 and January 2022 to a firm managing the AAP’s outdoor advertisement campaign in Goa.
While remanding Arvind Kumar Singh to CBI custody, Justice Nagpal stated, “This court is of the opinion that some further interrogation in custody from the accused is required, as is his confrontation with the other documentary as well as digital evidence that has come on record during the investigation of the case. Therefore, he has been remanded to the custody of the CBI until May 18.”
The Goa Assembly elections took place on February 14, 2022. The Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which intended to grant licenses to liquor retailers, is said to have benefited specific dealers who allegedly paid kickbacks for it. The policy was later scrapped.
Notably, Bhupendra Chaubey, the editor-in-chief of India Ahead is married to Delhi Education Minister Atishi’s elder sister Rosa Basanti. In 2022, it was reported that India Ahead was faced with a financial crunch and rumours surfaced that the English free-to-air channel might shut down soon. In January this year, the news channel reportedly shut down its operations and the dues of the employees were unpaid. Chaubey had at the time refuted these reports.
