On Friday (August 19), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the residence of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over allegations of corruption in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022.
The central agency had named 14 others individuals in its First Information Report (FIR). The accused included excise officials, dealers, public servants, liquor company executives and private persons.
One of the accused named in the case was Vijay Nair. 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”
Association between Vijay Nair and Aam Aadmi Party
As per a 2019 report by the Caravan, Vijay Nair was the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a Mumbai-based entertainment and event management company named Only Much Louder (OML).
He worked as a ‘part-time volunteer’ of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in the run-up to the 2020 Delhi State Legislative Assembly polls. During his stint with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, he helped organise party events and manage social media handles.
AAP MLA Atishi Marlena told Caravan that Nair was an ‘ad-hoc worker’, a claim denied by the party’s national council member Ankit Lal. He pointed out that the ex-OML CEO has been associated with AAP for over 5-6 years. Lal stated that Nair is his go-to person for strategising digital campaigns.
A news report published in The Times of India shows that Vijay Nair has been with the Aam Aadmi Party since January 2014. “Nair said he will reach out to musicians across the country and use music as a medium to spread the party’s work and message,” the report said.
It further added how he was planning to rope in regional folk performers to hold shows in different parts of Maharashtra. A tweet by anti-corruption activist, Anjali Damania, dated July 19, 2014, also exposes the long-standing connection between AAP and the ex-CEO of Only Much Louder.
“Congratulations, Vijay Nair. Your name has appeared in Hind Times Mumbai’s 50 Young stars. Proud to have you with AAP,” she had tweeted.
Nair had made a name for himself in the industry by organising music festivals such as the Invasion Festival, Bacardi NH7 Weekender, and the television show ‘The Dewarists.’ He exhibited his personal admiration for the Aam Aadmi Party while speaking to The Quint in 2015.
“Nair praises the Delhi administration and the Aam Admi Party-led government for being the first state to streamline procedures by introducing the One-Window Licence in India. An elated Nair claims he even got a receipt for the money paid to obtain licences in Delhi,” the report said.
Even before being personally benefitted by the association, the ex-OML CEO had confessed to donating to the AAP. As such, it came as a surprise when Atishi Marlena introduced Vijay Nair as an ‘Adhoc worker’, who was not in a position of power.
At that time, Atishi was also the head of the AAP’s internal complaints committee, which was constituted to probe cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. However, she was evasive when Caravan confronted her about #MeToo allegations against Nair.
Allegations of sexual harassment against Vijay Nair
In an article published in November 2018, Caravan cited victim testimonies to claim that the ex-OML CEO created an unsafe and misogynist environment for the female workers.
“Nair stands accused of abetting an environment that perpetuated sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny during his time as the CEO of OML. Based on first-person accounts of women who had worked with him, The Caravan reported that Nair’s position as CEO allowed him to act brazenly and with impunity,” the report said.
Caravan alleged that the man, behind India’s premier music festivals, asked a woman to get into a bathtub with him. It claimed that Nair engaged in sexual activity during a work call with a woman, without her consent.
The article went on to say that Nair messaged his female co-workers regularly and how they were caught in a state of fix while trying to refuse his sexual advances.
When Caravan reached out to Atishi Marlena in 2019, she refused to have any knowledge of allegations against the ex-OML CEO. She did not provide details about the roles and responsibilities of Vijay Nair in the Aam Aadmi Party.
Atishi was however able to deflect the #MeToo allegations by claiming that ‘power dynamics played a key role in sexual harassment cases’ and how Nair was not placed in any position of power. Interestingly, a woman who applied for the job of digital communication strategist was told to meet Nair, as he was managing communications for AAP.
Allegations of corruption in the Excise Policy Scam
At the heart of the controversy is the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-2022. The now-scrapped liquor policy of the Delhi government was originally proposed in 2020. After coming into effect in November 2021, it changed the manner in which alcohol was sold in Delhi.
Until then, only government-owned liquor vendors were permitted to sell alcohol. The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 introduced private players in the market. The National Capital was divided into 32 zones and a total of 27 private vendors were to ply in each zone.
Every municipal ward had 2-3 liquor vendors operating in the area. The private liquor shops were allowed to attract crowds by offering discounts on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). They could deliver liquor at home, and even keep shops open till 3 am in the morning.
The drastic policy change resulted in a 27% increase in government revenue to ₹8900 crores. At the same time, it marked the complete exit of the Delhi government from the liquor business.
While the objective of Excise Policy 2021-2022 was to end black marketing and the liquor mafia, the AAP government soon came under fire over allegations of corruption. Naresh Kumar, who was appointed the Chief Secretary of Delhi in April 2022, found irregularities and procedural lapses in the new liquor policy.
The Chief Secretary prepared a report and sought the response of Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the head of the Excise Department. The report blamed the Deputy CM for making changes to the excise policy without the authorisation of the Lieutenant Governor and providing ‘undue benefits’ to the liquor vendors.
Manish Sisodia reportedly waived off ₹144.36 crores on the license fee, to be paid by the private liquor vendors, under the garb of the Coronavirus pandemic. He also caused loss to the Excise Department and benefitted liquor licensees by waiving the import pass fee of ₹50 per beer case.
All these changes were made without the final approval of the Lieutenant Governor and thus considered illegal under the Delhi Excise Rules of 2010 and Transaction of Business Rules of 1993. The CBI had therefore registered a case against Vijay Nair and 14 others.
Rise of Nair as India’s go-to-concert man
In 2002, a 19-year-old Vijay Nair became the manager of an independent Pune-based rock band named Acquired Funk Syndrome. At that time, he was a student at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics.
Thereafter, he began managing Mumbai-based rock bands, Pentagram and Zero. He soon dropped out of college to lay the foundation of Only Much Louder. He worked on the development of the Indie Music scene in India.
Later on, OML grew to have its own booking agency, record label, and production house. Nair created a reputation as India’s best concert organiser.
