AAP member Vijay Nair, a key aide of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, was today arrested by the Enforcement Directorate just ahead of his bail hearing against his CBI custody in the case related to now-scrapped liquor policy of Arvind Kejriwal government.
Vijay Nair was arrested along with businessman Abhishek Boinpally, accused of lobbying for certain liquor businessmen based in Southern India. Both of them are currently in jail after their arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Enforcement Directorate is likely to seek the custody of the two from a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, news agency PTI reported.
Both accused had sought bail claiming that they were not required for further interrogation in CBI custody.
Opposing their plea, the CBI had argued that Vinay Nair, who was a former CEO of an event management company, entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, and based on the conspiracy, the excise policy of the Delhi government was framed and implemented.
The central agency had also opposed Boinpally's application, saying he held meeting with other accused and liquor traders in Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad with the formulation of liquor policy and to derive benefits from it.
The Enforcement Directorate has carried as many as 169 search operations in this case so far and arrested many top executives, including promoter of liquor company Indospirit, general manager of liquor company and whole-time director and promoter of Aurobindo Pharma.
The central agency filed a money laundering case in August after taking note of a complaint filed by the CBI that had named Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as an accused apart from senior bureaucrats of the Delhi government and others.
Earlier this month, the agency searched the premises of an aide of Manish Sisodia and later questioned him at its office in Delhi.
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