ED Hyderabad zonal officials accused of third degree torture

Hyderabad: A senior official of Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, who was reportedly questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy scam, has shot off a letter to the ED Joint Director, ED Headquarters, alleging that officials of the ED Hyderabad zonal unit recorded his statement under threat, coercion, duress […]

Hyderabad: A senior official of Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, who was reportedly questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy scam, has shot off a letter to the ED Joint Director, ED Headquarters, alleging that officials of the ED Hyderabad zonal unit recorded his statement under threat, coercion, duress and by employing third degree torture.

Chandan Earla, who says in the letter that he was Vice President (Corporate Relations) who was posted in Delhi overseeing retail liquor business operations of the same management, said he was summoned in September to appear at the Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate in Hyderabad, where he was questioned about the business operations of retail liquor at Delhi.

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“During the interrogation, the officers concerned started asking questions of which I had no knowledge or answers. When I was unable to give answers to the questions, I was told that I should answer the questions in the manner required by them. On my refusal, I was assaulted and severely beaten up. I was threatened with dire consequences for me and my family and relatives if I did not write and sign the papers as required by the ED Officials,” he said.

He also said the assault and beating was so severe that he suffered from loss of hearing from both the ears.

“Ultimately I was made to forcibly sign on papers and state certain things which are contradictory to the facts and some of which I have no knowledge .The statements attributed to me on which my signatures have been obtained are completely false and contrary to the record… I therefore retract them in totality,” he said in the letter.

Chandan Earla also said that he was hospitalized on release, after which he was diagnosed with complete hearing loss in one ear and partial hearing loss in the other ear.

“This is entirely attributable to the severe beating and violence carried out upon my by the officers of the Enforcement Directorate in order to extract false statements and get me to sign papers and state certain things which are contradictory to facts,” he said.