The Supreme Court of India on Monday demanded a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the bail application of Vijay Nair, the former communications chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in connection with a money laundering case tied to the controversial Delhi excise policy scam.
Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, presiding over the matter, have given the central investigative agency four weeks to submit their reply. The case pivots on allegations linked to the excise policy that was implemented in 2021 and later discarded amidst charges of malfeasance.
Vijay Nair, who has been in custody since his arrest on November 13, 2022, first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and subsequently under ED’s detention, is challenging a trial court’s decision from July 29 that denied him bail on default grounds. Earlier, on July 3 last year, the high court had also declined to grant him bail, along with other accused individuals in the same case.
The legal team for Nair, led by senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhary, highlighted the prolonged detention of nearly two years without commencement of the trial, despite the presence of 353 witnesses in the related proceedings.
The origins of the case trace back to a CBI FIR initiated following a recommendation by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena, who called for an investigation into the new excise policy shortly before it was abolished. The allegations suggest that Nair was involved in meetings with co-accused individuals, including prominent liquor manufacturers and distributors, across various cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi to facilitate kickbacks to AAP in exchange for favorable treatment under the Delhi government’s excise policy.
The case further implicates businessman Abhishek Boinpally and Sameer Mahendru, managing director of the Indospirit Group, a major liquor distributor. The duo is accused of participating in the conspiracy to channel illicit funds through hawala transactions to the political party.
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The ED’s investigations have extended to numerous raids across Delhi and Punjab following Mahendru’s arrest. Alongside Nair, other prominent figures named in the case include former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, ex-deputy commissioner in the excise department Anand Tiwari, and former assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
