Delhi Excise Policy case: Delhi court denies bail to AAP's Vijay Nair and four others

A Delhi court on Thursday denied bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Vijay Nair and four others in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case related to the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam. .Special Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court also denied bail to Abhishek Boinpally, Sameer Mahendru, Sarath Chandra Reddy and Benoy Babu. .In a detailed order passed today, Judge Nagpal has said that there is enough incriminating evidence to show the entire modus operandi adopted by the accused persons for commission of offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).The court noted that it will not be possible to hold that the accused will make no attempt to tamper with the evidence in the case if released on bail. This, because serious allegations of tampering with evidence by way of destruction or change of their mobile phones various times have already been made by the ED against them."Thus, keeping in view the totality of facts and circumstances and the above discussion, this court is of the considered opinion that none of the applicants/accused deserves to be released on bail in this case at this stage of proceedings as the allegations made against them are quite serious and relate to commission of an economic offence of money-laundering defined by Section 3 and made punishable by Section 4 of the PMLA. Hence, their bail applications are being dismissed," the court ordered..Countering arguments made by counsel for the accused that that the cartel formed among them only amounted to a violation of the excise policy and the same was not an offence, the court said,"...but these contentions of Ld. Defence Counsels are of no help to the case of accused persons as formation of the cartel has to be viewed in light of the allegations and evidence for payment of advance kickbacks by the South liquor lobby to the politicians and other public servants in Delhi.".On the specific role of Nair in the case, Judge Nagpal noted that he was the person to whom the alleged kickback amount of ₹100 crore was transferred or delivered by the South liquor lobby. Further,"Though, he was only the Media and Communication Incharge of the AAP, but it has been revealed during investigation of this case that he was actually representing the AAP and GNCTD in different meetings that took place with the stakeholders in liquor business at different places. His participation in the meetings in this capacity is to be viewed in light of the facts that he was residing in the official accommodation allotted to a senior Minister of the AAP and once he is even alleged to have represented himself as an OSD in the Excise Department of GNCTD and further that none from the Government or AAP officially participated in these meetings.".While conceding that the ED had showed the individual proceeds of crime being attributed to the accused on a much higher side, and that the amount of losses allegedly suffered by the exchequer is alleged to be highly exaggerated,"...the same cannot be made a ground to enlarge the applicants on bail in this case under the PMLA where serious allegations are found to have been levelled against them of being part of a criminal conspiracy to bribe the public servants in politics or otherwise and holding different offices and positions in Delhi for causing undue advantages or favours to certain persons in liquor lobby against the payment of huge kickbacks in advance.".Senior Advocate Rebecca John and Advocates Samudra Sarangi, Alisha Luthra, Nitya Jain and Pravir Singh represented Vijay Nair.Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal and Advocates Dhruv Gupta, Alok Sangwan and Rishabh Goyal appeared for Sameer Mahandru.Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra and Advocates Madhav Khurana, Vignaraj Pasayat, Samarth Krishan Luthra and Anmol Kheta Advocates represented Benoy Babu.Luthra and Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Sudhir Nandrajog, assisted by Advocates Mayank Jain, Parmatma Singh, Madhur Jain, Navlendu Kumar and Swastika Kumari, represented P Sarath Chandra Reddy.Advocates Shri Singh, Yogesh Raavi, MF Philip and Gurfateh Singh Khosa argued for Abhishek Boinpally.Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, along with Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Special Public Prosecutor NK Matta and Advocates Vivek Gurnani, Sidharth Kaushik and Kavish appeared for the ED..Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, was arrested and remanded to five days of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody on September 27 in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy.The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, putting Manish Sisodia, the in-charge of the excise department, in the line of fire.Following this, the Delhi government had announced it was withdrawing the policy..The investigating agencies have alleged that Nair and others were actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of excise policy.It has been argued that lobbying for done for certain liquor businessmen and the ill-gotten money was transferred through hawala routes as part of a conspiracy. The agencies further said that public servants in politics and other people holding different offices and positions in Delhi were bribed by the accused..[Read Order]