Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should explain his link to arrested accused Vijay Nair in the alleged excise policy scam there.Thakur alleged former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who too has been arrested as part of the probe, may be the main accused, but it was Kejriwal who was the "kingpin".
"What is the relation between Arvind Kejriwal and Vijay Nair? Was Nair present when the excise policy was designed? The main accused may be Sisodia but the kingpin is Kejriwal," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader asked. As per the ED, alleged kickbacks from a liquor cartel was routed to Nair, an AAP functionary who has been arrested in the case. Sisodia was held by the Central Bureau of Investigation late last month in connection with the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
On Thursday, he was arrested at Tihar Jail by the Enforcement Directorate, which told a court that he "conspired" with others to frame a faulty excise policy in order to generate kickbacks and proceeds of crime to the tune of more than Rs 290 crore. Union Minister Thakur also slammed Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha for spreading "incorrect propaganda" after being questioned for nine hours during the day by ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy.
It is alleged the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the ruling AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
