There are reasons to worry for Delhi Ministers Atishi Marlena and Saurabh Bharadwaj, as their boss Arvind Kejriwal has whispered something nasty in the ears of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about their role in the Delhi Liquor excise scam.
The ED which arrested Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the Delhi liquor scam today revealed before the court that Kejriwal denied any association with Vijay Nair, one of the key conspirators of the liquor scam.
Vijay Nair was formerly the communication-in-charge for the AAP.
Kejriwal, during his police interrogation, said that he was never in touch with Nair. He added that (Nair) was rather used to report and communicate with his ministers Marlena and Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Well-placed sources confirmed that Kejriwal primarily named Marlena as a key link to Nair. Kejriwal said that he did not know what Marlena, Nair and Bharadwaj were doing and he was unaware of any kickback. He further said that if his ministers received bribes from the South Group, he would take action against them, asking ED to trace the money.
“I don’t know whether they (ministers) received kickback… if they have done so and if ED tracks that money I will surely take actions against them,” Kejriwal is learnt to have told the ED during questioning.
Kejriwal tried to impress upon investigators that he was nowhere involved in the formation of the Excise Policy and if there was a conspiracy to help South Group he was never a part of it.
“What he has said about his ministers is subject to investigation. He is trying to distance himself from Nair and the entire conspiracy. His assertion will have to be corroborated. But revealing details at this juncture will hamper the investigation,” well-placed sources said.
It is believed that the agency may summon both the ministers to examine their connection with Nair.
The agency said that Kejriwal, as the kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi liquor scam colluded with his cabinet colleagues to formulate Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 to favour South Liquor Group headed by K. Kavitha.
As per the ED, Nair on behalf of Kejriwal and AAP, received Rs 100 Crore kickback from South Group. Kejriwal pumped Rs 45 Crore out of the kickback in the Goa assembly elections.
Notably, Marlena was the party in charge of the Goa assembly election.
The ED has claimed that Nair was a very close associate of Kejriwal.
Nair, who had no role and position in the Delhi Excise department or Delhi government acted as a broker/liaison/middleman on behalf of the top AAP leadership, especially Kejriwal for getting bribes/kickbacks from various stakeholders in the Delhi Liquor business in exchange for favourable outcomes(policy changes).
Nair was living in a government Bungalow, which was officially allotted to Minister Kailash Gehlot, without any official authorisation and he operated from Kejriwal’s camp office.
Nair had coordinated a hawala transfer of Rs 31 Crore.
Meanwhile, Special Judge (PC Act) Kaveri Baweja on Monday forwarded Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15 after his police remand period ended.
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