CBI arrests Vijay Nair in Delhi Excise Policy case

Lookout notices were issued against Nair and 7 others last month

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested Vijay Nair, former chief executive officer of Mumbai-based Only Much Louder, in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case.

The agency had earlier issued lookout notices against Mr. Nair and seven other private persons accused of irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-withdrawn excise policy.

Among the accused public servants are Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.

The others are Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; Sameer Mahendru, managing director of Indospirit Group; director of Buddy Retail Amit Arora, and Dinesh Arora; authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey.

The CBI has alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection, it further said.

As alleged, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about ₹30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, waiver on tendered licence fee was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022 due to COVID-19.

This allegedly caused a loss of ₹144.36 crore to the exchequer, said the FIR, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.