By BOOM Team
Vijay Nair, the communication in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former CEO of events company Only Much Louder (OML), was arrested by the CBI on Tuesday, in connection with the alleged irregularities in Delhi's excise policy.
The FIR by the CBI claimed that Nair, along with others, was "activity involved" with the Delhi liquor policy which has now been withdrawn.
The CBI has been investigating alleged irregularities in the liquor policy that had been implemented by the AAP government. Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia faced raids in August by the CBI over the liquor policy.
Also Read:CBI At Manish Sisodia's House: What Is Delhi's Controversial Liquor Policy?
Here's what you need to know:
Who is Vijay Nair?
Before his association with AAP, Nair had found OML in 2001 along with Gunjan Arya and Ajay Nair. In 2018, Nair was accused of sexual harassment bymultiple women who worked with him.
OML not only managed, helmed by Nair, not only managed several Indian alt-rock bands like Pentagram, but also started managing comedy groups and comedians such as Vir Das and All India Bakchod by 2013. The NH7 Weekender was also first organised by OML in 2010.
Nair became associated with AAP in 2014. The Times of India had reported in January 2014 that Nair had planned to gather musicians across the country to campaign for the party ahead of the elections.
Nair worked with the AAP, ahead of the 2020 Delhi Assembly Elections, in 2019. The Caravanhad reported that he was working as a part-time volunteer and did "ad-hoc" work for the party's social media. He also organised events for the party. The article had questioned Nair's foray into the party despite sexual harassment allegations against him.
Nair was a college dropout who was widely hailed for his success with OML. An article by Economic Times in 2014 had revealed that he was worth $10 million at the time.
Nair is now spearheading AAP's communication strategies.
What were sexual allegations against him?
In February 2018, an anonymous person had accused Nair of sexual harassment in a blog on Medium.com. The blog has since been deleted. Huffpost India had reported at the time that the complainant had accused Nair of physically assault and sexually harassment at his Lower Parel home in 2015.
Nair had responded to the allegations with a Facebook post claiming he did not have a home in Lower Parel, Huffpost India had reported. The Facebook has now been deleted.
Months later, in the aftermath of the Me Too movement, The Caravan published an investigative report in November 2018 where many of his colleagues accused him of sexual harassment. According to the report women accused him of sending them explicit images, asking for sexual favours and making sexual advances. He was also accused of messaging these women colleagues regularly, making advances at them.
In response to the article, OML had put out a statement denying all allegations. A part of the statement read, "The broader narrative of the article is that we have encouraged inappropriate behaviour and protected senior persons who were employed with the company. We reject these allegations categorically. All complaints that were brought to the ICC have always been investigated impartially irrespective of the seniority of the alleged accused."
Tanusree Singh, a former OML employee, had then written a scathing account of her experience forFirstpost.com, saying OML's response undermined the trauma of women and was dismissive of the Me Too movement. OML had mentioned Singh's name in its statement. Singh wrote, "While OML might have made efforts recently to take sexual harassment at workplace more seriously, the fact remains that a few years ago this was never a priority. On 23 August 2013, i.e. a couple of months after OML dismissed my complaint as a 'personal issue', I sent an email to Tulika Yadav (my then immediate boss) expressing my discomfort regarding a few new male employees because of their demeanour/behaviour and also asking if and when OML was going to do a workshop on the prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. I never received a response."
What is Nair accused of now?
Nair is one of the accused named in the CBI FIR in connection to the excise policy case where 14 others, including Manish Sisodia, have been named. The FIR said that Nair was "actively involved" in the alleged irregularities.
The Indian Express quoted the FIR as saying, "Reliable sources have revealed that Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits; and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit, are actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of excise policy."
The FIR said that three associates of Sisodia, Amit Arora, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey were involved in diverting funds collected through liquor licensees to "accused public servants".
The Times of India quoted the FIR as saying, "A person named Arjun Pandey has once collected huge cash amount of about Rs 2-4 crore from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair."
What has AAP said after Nair's arrest?
The AAP said on Wednesday in a press conference that such action was being taken against its members because of its rising popularity in Gujarat. AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj told the media, "They are pressurising Vijay Nair, to say something against deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, because CBI is helpless without proof against him."
Bharadwaj alleged that Nair may be tortured and harassed.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Aatishi had said that Nair had nothing to do with Delhi's excise policy. "Vijay Nair is an AAP worker who is the Communication Incharge. What connection does he have to the excise policy?"
Aatishi also said that he was arrested because of the communication strategy in Gujarat, after Delhi and Punjab, because of which Kejriwal's "graph is rising rapidly".
