Tanisha Rana
Published on: October 3, 2022 at 21:32 IST
On Monday, a Delhi Court extended the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in-charge Vijay Nair by four days due to alleged irregularities in the CBI vs. Manish Sisodia case over the Delhi Excise Policy.
After Senior Attorney Ramesh Gupta argued against the CBI’s request for remand on behalf of Nair by citing a number of case laws, Special CBI Judge Raghubir Singh said that each case has unique facts and circumstances that should be taken into account when deciding whether to grant or extend police remand.
Gupta added that there was no need for an extension because Nair had already spent 5 days in detention and had cooperated with investigators.
The Court observed that a thorough investigation was necessary in order to reach a logical conclusion because the First Information Report (FIR) in which Nair is charged contained allegations of the commission of numerous irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy of the NCT of Delhi for the year 2021–2022.
“The allegations as appearing in the FIR are serious and detailed investigation is required for the purpose of arriving at a logical conclusion in the due course,” it said.
Nair’s custody was therefore extended by 4 days by the court till October 6, 2022.
On September 27, Vijay Nair, the former CEO of Only Much Louder, was detained and sentenced to five days in CBI prison in relation to purported violations in the Delhi Excise Policy case.
The Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s recommendation for a CBI investigation into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 prompted the filing of the First Information Report (FIR), placing Manish Sisodia, the in-charge of the excise department, in the line of fire.
According to the FIR, Nair and three other people actively participated in anomalies in the formulation and implementation of excise policy, according to credible sources.