Earla Chandan alleges torture, retracts statements

Hyderabad: Earla Chandan, who oversees retail liquor business of Trident Chemphar Limited, alleged torture by officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and said he was retracting all statements he made to Enforcement Directorate officials.

In a letter emailed to The Headquarter Investigation Unit-II, Directorate of Enforcement, on Thursday, he alleged that ED officials recorded his statements under threat, coercion, duress and by employing third degree torture.

"I hereby retract and withdraw any and every statement attributed to me and every document on which my signatures have been obtained by the Enforcement Directorate officials in the facts and circumstances stated above," he said.

"I joined Aurobindo Realty & Infrastructure Pvt Limited as Vice-President (Corporate Relations) in 2021 and was later posted to Delhi for overseeing the retail liquor business operations of Trident Chemphar Limited, a company under the same management. The entire operations lasted about seven months at the end of which the Liquor Policy, under which the company had been awarded the contract was scrapped," he said. "Due to assault and beating, I have complete hearing loss in one ear and partial hearing loss in the other ear," he said in his letter. CBI and ED are investigating irregularities in the scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, have conducted raids and arrested several accused in the case.