Delhi Excise Policy Scam: ED arrests AAP’s communication in-charge

New Delhi, Nov 14: The Enforcement Directorate has taken into custody the communication in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party, Vijay Nair and businessman Abhishek Boinpally in connection with the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.

The agency will produce both before a special court and seek their custody. The ED is seeking their custody to question them in connection with the ongoing probe in the Delhi Excise Policy money laundering case. The ED had taken their custody from the Tihar jail.

Nair was arrested on September 27 by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged role in the irregularities pertaining to the Delhi government's excise policy. An FIR was lodged after LG V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe.
The CBI alleged that Nair was involved in meeting the other co-accused and liquor manufacturers as well as the distributors at various hotels in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi to arrange the ill-gotten money through hawala operators.

The CBI probe revealed that Boinpally was part of the meetings with the other accused persons. He was part of the conspiracy to launder money along with other accused, the CBI had told a court.

The ED will now question both the accused in connection with the case. In October the ED had raided several locations in Delhi and Punjab following the arrest of Sameer Mahendra the Managing Director of Delhi's Jor-Bagh based liquor distributor Indospirit Group.

The other accused I the case include Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.

The probe agencies said that there were irregularities while modifying the excise policy. Undue favours were extended to liquor holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the approval of the competent authority. The beneficiaries diverted illegal gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection, the agencies also said.