Delhi Excise Policy case: Vijay Nair sent to 5-day CBI custody

New Delhi: A court in Delhi on Wednesday granted the CBI five days in custody to question businessman Vijay Nair, who was arrested in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy scam, in which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also a suspect. The court took note of the prosecution's contentions that, following his arrest on Tuesday, the accused was uncooperative and evasive under various pretexts. “Hence, in view of the totality of facts and circumstances, application filed by CBI is allowed and accused is remanded to the custody of CBI for a period five days i.e, till October 3, 2022,” Special Judge M K Nagpal said. “The investigation of the case is at a nascent stage and detailed custodial interrogation of the accused is felt necessary not only to unearth the entire conspiracy and the roles played by different accused persons, including the public servants but also to trace out the trail of ill-gotten money which is alleged to have been paid to the accused public servants by way of commission,” the court said.

The court also stated that the accused's interrogation in custody was required in order to confront him with the evidence already gathered by the Investigating Officer (IO). “He (Nair) will even be required to be questioned with regard to the nature of data, which is stated to have been deleted from his mobile phones by way of formatting,” the court said.

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According to the prosecution, Nair, who is affiliated with the AAP, participated in a criminal conspiracy with others, and in furtherance of the conspiracy, the excise policy of the government of the national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the fiscal year 2021-2022 was framed and implemented.

According to the prosecution, the motive was to provide undue and illegal favours to liquor manufacturers and distributors at the expense of the government exchequer, and the policy resulted in a massive revenue loss for the government.

The CBI had filed a FIR under the relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused, as well as some public servants and excise department officers, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and other named and unnamed accused persons, on allegations of various irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy.

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According to the FIR, the accused public servants were involved in recommending and making decisions regarding the Excise Policy without seeking approval from the appropriate authority. The accused intended to extend undue favours to liquor licensees in exchange for illegal monetary benefits, according to the FIR.

(With PTI Inputs)