(Read commercial director §1 and §6 and not general manager)
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An Indian court on Thursday ordered the detention of a commercial director of the local subsidiary of spirits giant Pernod Ricard for a week, in connection with an investigation related to Delhi city alcohol policy.
The court’s decision came hours after Benoy Babu was arrested by the Directorate of Law Enforcement (DA), the country’s federal financial crime agency.
The director of local drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma, P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, was also arrested and taken into custody.
Last month, the DA raided several liquor companies, suppliers and distributors as part of a money laundering investigation, according to media reports.
Investigators argue in court that Benoy Babu played a role in an alcohol scam and was in possession of documents relating to government excise duty policy long before they were released public. Benoy Babu’s lawyer replied that he did not share these documents with anyone and that he received them by WhatsApp.
Benoy Babu is in charge of sales for the Delhi region and looks after the French company’s international brands, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Spokespersons for Pernod Ricard and Aurobindo did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The arrest of P. Sarath Chandra Reddy is unrelated to the operations of Aurobindo or its subsidiaries, the company said in a separate document earlier on Thursday.
According to media reports, P. Sarath Chandra Reddy and Benoy Babu were arrested in connection with the DA’s investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s alcohol policy, which has now been defeated.
(Read commercial director §1 and §6 and not general manager)
(Report Praveen Paramasivam in Bangalore and Arpan Chaturvedi in New Delhi, French version Augustin Turpin, editing by Kate Entringer)
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