On Wednesday 28th September 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru in the Delhi excise policy scam case. He was arrested in the morning, and his arrest is the second big arrest in the case after Vijay Nair. Mahendru is the managing director of Indospirit Group – a liquor distributor in Delhi’s Jor Bagh. Along with Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, he is also named as a key accused in the Delhi excise policy scam in the FIR filed by CBI.
After a day and night of questioning, the businessman in the liquor industry was taken into custody under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was presented before a court in Delhi, where the ED had sought custody for further interrogation. Accordingly, the court remanded Sameer Mahendru to the Enforcement Directorate’s custody till October 6.
.@dir_ed arrests Businessman Sameer Mahendru in Delhi Excise Policy case.
— Prasar Bharati News Services & Digital Platform (@PBNS_India) September 28, 2022
Delhi Court grants remands of Sameer Mahendru till 6 october to ED custody. pic.twitter.com/PqHYP0fS3N
According to the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Sameer Mahendru had sent two payments totalling many crores to Manish Sisodia’s close acquaintances. He reportedly transferred Rs 1 crore to Radha Industries, which is run by Sisodia’s close friend Dinesh Arora. Arjun Pandey received between Rs 2 and Rs 4 crore in cash from Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair, another Sisodia ally.
In the CBI FIR, it is mentioned, “Arun Ramchandra Pillai used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Sameer Mahendru for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Nair. A person named Arjun Pandey has once collected a huge cash amount of about Rs 2-4 crore from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair.”
On Tuesday 27th September 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Vijay Nair for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy in allocating liquor licenses. Nair served as the communication head for Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and was formerly the CEO of the event management firm Only Much Louder.
Both the ED and the CBI are looking into alleged anomalies in the now-cancelled excise policy, which reportedly favoured some big liquor distributors and retailers while excluding smaller vendors from the tendering process.
