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Synopsis

The former Aam Aadmi Party’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair on Monday moved a ‘default bail plea’ before the Delhi High Court in a money laundering case in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.

The plea was to come up for hearing before a single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, who was not holding the court today, and it has now been listed for August 10, 2023.

Notably, the trial court on July 29 ‘denied default bail’ to Nair in the excise policy scam case.

While denying default bail to Nair, Special Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court said, “In view of factual and legal discussion, it is held that this court is not competent or the appropriate forum to consider the ground for default bail of the accused and the appropriate course available to the accused is to approach the same judge or bench of the High Court with a request for consideration of the said point or ground and for passing of a specific order on the basis of pleadings contained in the said request application or submissions as may be made while pressing the said point or ground during the course of hearing of such application to be filed by the accused”.

“With the above observations and findings, the present application filed by the accused Vijay Nair is being dismissed as not maintainable before this court”, the judge ordered.

It is to be noted that the High Court had denied Nair ‘regular bail’ in the matter. The court had observed that Vijay Nair was a close associate of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Denying bail to Nair, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had said, "The accused person (Vijay Nair) in the present case, acting in furtherance of a conspiracy, circumvented the policy and got framed the policy in such a way that to continuously generate and channel illegal fund".

"It has also come record that the accused Vijay Nair was a close associate of Chief Minister GNCT of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) and Shri Manish Sisodia, the then Deputy CM", the court had added.

"The investigation has further revealed that Vijay Nair arranged video call through face time with Chief Minister of GNCT of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal), where the CM said that Nair is his boy and ....the allegations are extremely serious in nature. The alleged conspiracy has been well spun and there are prima facie credible material on record", Justice Sharma had said.

Background:

On February 16, Special Judge MK Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi, denied regular bail to Vijay Nair and four others in a money laundering case related to the Delhi Excise Policy Case.

Observing that “allegations are quite serious”, the court had denied bail to Nair, Sameer Mahendru, Abhishek Boinpally, Sarath Chandra Reddy, and Benoy Babu.

The judge in the 123-page order had stated that there was enough incriminating evidence to show the entire “modus operandi” adopted by the accused persons for the commission of offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Case Title: Vijay Nair v. Directorate of Enforcement