New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) A court here on Friday sought response from the CBI on the bail application of businessman Vijay Nair, arrested in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case in which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused.

The court issued notice to the agency and directed it to file a reply by November 3, when the court will further hear the matter.

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Nair claimed in his application that there was no purpose of keeping him in further custody since he was not required for custodial interrogation any more.

According to the prosecution, Nair, who is associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, and in furtherance of the conspiracy, the excise policy of the government of the national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) of 2021-2022 was framed and implemented.

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The motive was to provide undue and illegal favours to liquor manufacturers and distributors at the cost of the government exchequer and the policy resulted in a huge revenue loss to the government, the prosecution said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR against the accused along with some public servants and excise department officers, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and other named and unnamed accused persons under relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act on allegations of various irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.

According to the FIR, the accused public servants were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions about the excise policy, without getting approval from the competent authority.

The intent of the accused was to extend undue favours to the liquor licensees for illegal pecuniary benefits, the FIR said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)