CBI arrests businessman Vijay Nair in Delhi excise policy scam case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested businessman Vijay Nair, former CEO of event management company Only Much Louder, with relation to the Delhi Excise Policy scam.
The CBI had earlier in August issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against eight ‘private’ accused in the Delhi Excise Policy case. A total of 9 ‘private’ persons had been named in the First Information Report filed by CBI in relation to the Delhi Excise policy case. Except for Manoj Rai, ex-vice president of Pernod Ricard, the Look Out Circular has been issued against all private persons.
Nair, who was abroad for quite some time, was called for questioning at the agency office on Tuesday, they said.
Sources said Nair was arrested for his alleged role in “cartelisation” and “conspiracy” related to alleged irregularities in the allocation of liquor licence in the national capital.
The FIR has alleged that Arjun Pandey, an associate of Sisodia, had once collected about ₹2-4 crore in cash from liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company
The agency had named a total of nine private individuals as accused in the FIR including businessmen Vijay Nair, a former CEO of entertainment and event management company Only Much Louder; Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits; Sameer Mahendru, MD of IndoSpirit, and Hyderabad-based Arun Ramchandra Pillai.
The investigative agency had conducted raids at 19 locations in August, including the residence and office of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. The CBI had listed 15 names in the Delhi excise policy controversy.
CBI had issued a lookout circular against Nair and seven others in August. The investigative agency had submitted reports that stated Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company, Manoj Rai, former employee of Pernod Ricard, Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits, and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirits, were actively involved in irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy brought in November last year.
“Source further revealed that Arun Ramchandra Pillai used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Sameer Mahendru (Of Indospirits) for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Nair. A person named Arjun Pandey has once collected a huge cash amount of about ₹2-4 crore from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair,” it said.
Manish Sisodia’s three “close associates” — Amit Arora, Director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurgaon, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey — have also been named in the FIR as accused.
Under the CBI scanner are at least two payments worth crores of rupees allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by Mahendru who was one of the liquor traders actively involved in alleged irregularities..
