<p>Vijay Nair, a close aide of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, was on Tuesday arrested by the CBI in the controversial Delhi excise policy case. This is the first arrest in the matter, more than a month after the agency registered the case and conducted searches across the country.<br /><br />Nair, who was former CEO of event management company OML, along with Sisodia and 11 other people and two companies were named in the FIR registered by the CBI on August 17, accusing them of irregularities in formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought in November last year that led to alleged loss to the state exchequer.<br /><br />He was called to the CBI office for questioning and placed under arrest later in the day, claiming that he failed to cooperate with the investigations, sources said. Officials said his alleged role came up in cartelisation and conspiracy with a select few licencees.<br /><br />Responding to the arrest, AAP's Aatishi issued a statement alleging that he was pressured to name Sisodia during questioning in the last few days and when he refused he was threatened that he would be arrested. She said the allegations against Nair and AAP are "false and completely baseless".<br /><br />She said Nair, who is the communication in-charge of AAP, was responsible for developing and implementing communication strategies in Punjab earlier and poll-bound Gujarat now. She said he had nothing to do with the excise policy and strangely he has been arrested in the case.<br /><br />"This is part of ongoing BJP's attempt to crush AAP and obstruct AAP's Gujarat campaign. The whole country is watching how BJP is completely rattled by AAP's growing popularity across India. BJP is unable to digest the rapidly growing vote share of AAP in Gujarat," she said, while strongly condemning the "unconstitutional and illegal methods" adopted by the BJP.<br /><br />According to the CBI FIR, Nair, former employee of Pernod Ricard Manoj Rai, Brindco Spirits owner Amandeep Dhal and Indo Spirits owner Sameer Mahendru were “actively involved” in the “irregularities in framing” the excise policy.<br /><br />It also claimed that one of the accused Arun Ramachandra Pillai used to collect money from Mahendru to forward it to public servants through Nair. Another accused Arjun Pandey had once allegedly collected Rs 2-4 crore from Mahendru on behalf of Nair, the FIR claimed. </p>
<p>Vijay Nair, a close aide of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, was on Tuesday arrested by the CBI in the controversial Delhi excise policy case. This is the first arrest in the matter, more than a month after the agency registered the case and conducted searches across the country.<br /><br />Nair, who was former CEO of event management company OML, along with Sisodia and 11 other people and two companies were named in the FIR registered by the CBI on August 17, accusing them of irregularities in formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought in November last year that led to alleged loss to the state exchequer.<br /><br />He was called to the CBI office for questioning and placed under arrest later in the day, claiming that he failed to cooperate with the investigations, sources said. Officials said his alleged role came up in cartelisation and conspiracy with a select few licencees.<br /><br />Responding to the arrest, AAP's Aatishi issued a statement alleging that he was pressured to name Sisodia during questioning in the last few days and when he refused he was threatened that he would be arrested. She said the allegations against Nair and AAP are "false and completely baseless".<br /><br />She said Nair, who is the communication in-charge of AAP, was responsible for developing and implementing communication strategies in Punjab earlier and poll-bound Gujarat now. She said he had nothing to do with the excise policy and strangely he has been arrested in the case.<br /><br />"This is part of ongoing BJP's attempt to crush AAP and obstruct AAP's Gujarat campaign. The whole country is watching how BJP is completely rattled by AAP's growing popularity across India. BJP is unable to digest the rapidly growing vote share of AAP in Gujarat," she said, while strongly condemning the "unconstitutional and illegal methods" adopted by the BJP.<br /><br />According to the CBI FIR, Nair, former employee of Pernod Ricard Manoj Rai, Brindco Spirits owner Amandeep Dhal and Indo Spirits owner Sameer Mahendru were “actively involved” in the “irregularities in framing” the excise policy.<br /><br />It also claimed that one of the accused Arun Ramachandra Pillai used to collect money from Mahendru to forward it to public servants through Nair. Another accused Arjun Pandey had once allegedly collected Rs 2-4 crore from Mahendru on behalf of Nair, the FIR claimed. </p>
