Delhi Liquor Scam: Kejriwal confidant Vijay Nair arrested by the CBI
“Reliable sources have revealed that Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits; and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit, are actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of excise policy.” said the CBI.
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New Delhi, Sept 28: Vijay Nair, the former CEO of events company Only Much Louder (OML) who had been associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy case. The FIR had named Nair, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and 13 others.
On Nair’s role, the CBI FIR had stated: “Reliable sources have revealed that Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits; and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit, are actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of excise policy.”
The FIR was lodged after Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, putting Sisodia, in charge of the excise department, directly in the line of fire. Following this, the Delhi government announced it was withdrawing the policy. “Source further revealed that some of the L-1 license holders are issuing credit notes to retail vendors with an ab-initio intention to divert the funds as an undue pecuniary advantage to public servants. In furtherance to this, they are showing false entries in their books of accounts to keep their record straight. Source further revealed that Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt Limited, Gurgaon; Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey are close associates of Manish Sisodia and are actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees to accused public servants. Source further revealed that Sameer Mahendru, MD, Indospirit, has transferred an amount of one crore to the account of Radha Industries.
Radha Industries is being managed by Dinesh Arora. Source further revealed that Arun Ramchandra Pillai used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Sameer Mahendru for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Nair. A person named Arjun Pandey once collected a huge cash amount of about Rs 2-4 crore from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair. Source has further informed that Mahadev Liquors, a proprietorship firm, was granted an L-1 license. Sunny Marwah is the authorized signatory of the firm. He is also a director in companies/firms being managed by the family of Late Ponty Chadha. Source has informed that Sunny Marwah is in close contact with accused public servants and has been regularly giving undue pecuniary advantage to them,” the CBI’s FIR had alleged.