Delhi excise policy case: After raid at Manish Sisodia's house, comedians, liquor barons and influencers on CBI radar

The CBI is hot on Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's heels in the excise policy case. Sisodia is among 15 named in the FIR. Now, the CBI has issued lookout circulars (LoC) against eight people in the case, not including Sisodia. 

There were reports claiming that a LoC was issued against Sisodia as well, however, later the reports were debunked. So far, the BJP at the Centre and AAP government in Delhi have been busy mudslinging over the issue. On the other hand, CBI's revelations in the case have brought out some interesting names. 

Among those accused are influencers, comedians, liquor barons etc. It is perplexing to imagine comedians or influencers would have anything to do with alleged irregularities in a government policy, that too, regarding liquor. 

What is the worst they could have done? Cracked a joke? 

To explain the links, let's first look at the FIR and who's named: 

1. There are excise department public servants, unknown public servants.
2. Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and events company.
3. Manoj Rai, an ex-employee at Pernod Ricard, a beverage company.
4. Amandeep Dhal, Brindco Sales
5. Sameer Mahendru, Indospirit Group
6. Amit Arora, Buddy Retail
7. Dinesh Arora
8. Mahadev Liquor and Sunny Marwah 
9. Arjun Pillai 
10. Arjun Pandey, National Media Centre, DLF

The LoC has been issued against 8 of the private individuals except for Manoj Rai. 

The accused incl Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits, Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit, Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail, Dinesh Arora of Radha Industries, Sunny Marwah of Mahadev Liquors, a proprietorship firm: CBI Sources

— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2022

How are these private individuals involved? The nine accused reportedly paid and collected bribes and then directed them to public servants in exchange for liquor licenses under the new policy. CBI reportedly believes four individuals - Vijay Nair, Manoj Rai, Amandeep Dhal and Sameer Mahendru - were actively involved in framing and implementing the excise policy in Delhi. 

Among all these people, the spotlight has turned on one individual - Vijay Nair. BJP has been pressing AAP and Manish Sisodia asking: 'Who is Vijay Nair?'.

Sisodia had called some journalists for an interaction but grew uncomfortable and called it off when asked about Vijay Nair, accused number 5 in the excise scam, the only non-bureaucrat, non-liquor business owner in the list of 16, purported to be close to Kejriwal.

Who is Nair?

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 21, 2022

Who is Vijay Nair? 

Vijay Nair is listed as the former CEO of the Only Much Louder entertainment and events management company based in Mumbai. Nair is an influential personality in the music festival and events industry across India. He is known for organising several high-profile concerts such as OML's annual Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Invasion Festival, the television show 'The Dewarists' etc. He has also worked with popular musicians and stand-up comedians as well. He is also known for having managed comedy group AIB's shows. 

OML is not the only company that crops up in association with Nair. Other companies, Motherswear, Weirdass Comedy, Rebellion Management and Entertainment Private Limited, 64 Squares Gaming and Motormouth Writers are also directly or indirectly related to Nair. 

The AAP ‘ad-hoc worker’ Vijay Nair is under the spotlight in the Excise Scam

The FIR stated that Nair was "actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD of Delhi for the year 2021-22". pic.twitter.com/ApYR8aesUj

— Uday Barad 🇮🇳 (@udaygbarad) August 21, 2022

Even comedian Vir Das's name crops up in the maze of companies. Das was listed as one of the directors of Weirdass Comedy. 

Vijay Nair's association with the AAP also goes back several years, starting as far back as 2014. According to a Times of India report, Nair helped the party strategise its digital campaign in the run-up to the 2014 Delhi assembly elections. He was even labeled an ad-hoc worker of the AAP. In an interview with The Quint, Nair also spoke of his admiration of the party. 

However, Nair is also accused of sexual harassment by several women who previously worked with him. The allegations were documented in a Caravan report, which also says that AAP MLA Atishi Marlena refused to speak. 

Where is Vijay Nair? Nair cleared the air on the LoC and about his whereabouts. He said that he is currently abroad for personal work and is cooperating with the officials.   

The AAP calls the CBI investigation, harassment by the BJP. Another AAP leader and Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain has been arrested in a money laundering case. It needs to be seen how this case unravels.