New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned a hearing on a plea filed by former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in charge Vijay Nair seeking bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

A Bench presided over by Justice Hrishikesh Roy “reluctantly” deferred the proceedings after the counsel appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought a week’s time to file a reply to Nair’s bail plea.

Deprecating the central agency’s request to adjourn the proceedings, the Bench, also comprising Justice SVN Bhatti, noted that the ED’s counsel had already entered an appearance quite some time back but a counter affidavit has not been filed.

The matter is likely to be listed on September 2 for further hearing.

In the previous hearing, the top court issued a notice to the ED on Nair’s plea and asked the federal anti-money laundering agency to file its reply by August 27.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Nair, cited the judgment of the Supreme Court, which had allowed bail pleas of senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case on the ground of delay in commencement of trial.

Singhvi said that Nair, who has been granted bail in a corruption case but remains in custody in an ED case, suffered incarceration of nearly two years and completion of the trial would take more time.

In July last year, a Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma of the Delhi High Court denied bail to Nair. He had moved the Delhi HC challenging a trial court order rejecting his bail application.

Observing that the “allegations are quite serious”, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court had denied bail to Nair and four others – Sameer Mahendru, Abhishek Boinpally, Sarath Chandra Reddy, and Benoy Babu.

The trial court held 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).

On the allegations and the role of Nair, it said, “Though he was only the media and communication in charge of AAP, it has been revealed during the investigation that he was actually representing the AAP and GNCTD in different meetings that took place with the stakeholders of liquor business at different places.

“His participation in the meetings in this capacity is to be viewed in light of the facts that he was residing in the official accommodation allotted to a senior Minister of AAP, and once he was even alleged to have represented himself as an OSD in the Excise Department of GNCTD. Further, none from the government or AAP officially participated in these meetings.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP on Friday likened Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s alleged role in the excise case to a playback singer who is not seen on the screen but is the voice in the song and said his attack on the ruling party is a case of pot calling the kettle black.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi rejected Mr Kejriwal’s claim of innocence and said a trail of corruption money has been established by the investigators.

His counterattack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader came after Mr Kejriwal claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted that the excise policy case is wrong.

PM Modi had, in an interview, described Mr Kejriwal as an “experienced thief”, claiming that as an ex-IRS officer he knew how probe agencies work and had tried to cover his tracks in the case.

Mr Trivedi said the money trail has demonstrated which companies have benefited from Mr Kejriwal government’s policies.

The BJP leader noted that even the court has acknowledged this on numerous occasions. This is why he was in jail, he said.

“In Goa, the AAP candidates have admitted that they have received money and suspiciously the money has come from the same sources that have been considered beneficiaries,” he said.

Mr Trivedi said Mr Kejriwal is the only chief minister in the history of India who has not resigned from his post even after going to jail.

Although the judiciary gave him interim bail to join the election campaign under specific conditions, including refraining from commenting on his case, but the way he is promoting his case with misleading and confusing propaganda is not surprising, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)