Excise case: Delhi court grants bail to Hyd-based CA Butchibabu Gorantla

New Delhi: A Delhi court granted bail to Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Gorantla is said to be a former auditor of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC K Kavitha.

Special Judge M K Nagpal, who also sent AAP leader Manish Sisodia to judicial custody till March 20 in the case, directed Gorantla to surrender his passport and not to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses.

The judge said that though some incriminating WhatsApp chats were recovered from the Gorantla’s mobile phone, but even the contents of those chats could only show his participation in those meetings in his professional capacity and to represent the interests of his client Kavitha and not in any personal capacity of the applicant or deriving of any pecuniary benefits by him out of the said participation.

Kavitha’s name has already been surfaced into the case.

The CBI had arrested Gorantla on February 7 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.