The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit and an accused in the Delhi Excise Policy case, from Delhi this morning.
Sameer Mahendru has been reportedly taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a night-long interrogation. According to media reports, he is expected to be produced before a local court where the ED will seek his further remand.
Mahendru's arrest comes a day after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's aide, Vijay Nair, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the same case. He is reportedly one of 15 people, including Sisodia, who are named in the CBI's FIR.
AAP claims Vijay Nair 'arrested for refusing to falsely implicate Sisodia'
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the arrest of Vijay Nair. Issuing a statement after Nair's arrest, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has said that Nair has "nothing to do with excise policy" and that the case is "baseless".
The ruling party in the national capital said, "Vijay Nair is the communication in charge of AAP. He was responsible for developing and implementing communication strategies in Punjab earlier and Gujarat now. His arrest is part of BJP's ongoing attempt to crush AAP and obstruct AAP's Gujarat campaign."
"Nair was called for questioning a few days ago and was pressurised to falsely implicate Manish Sisodia. When Nair refused to do that, he was threatened with arrest. His house was raided twice last month but nothing was found," the party further claimed.
The CBI has alleged that Nair was actively involved in the irregularities in framing and implementing the excise policy for the year 2021-22. On behalf of Nair, Sameer Mahendru, Director of Indospirits, allegedly paid around Rs 2-4 crore to Arjun Pandey, an associate of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
There are allegations that Arun Ramchandra Pillai, a resident of Kokapet in Hyderabad, used to collect undue pecuniary advantages from Mahendru for onward transmission of money to accused public servants through Nair.
