After spending nearly two years in the Tihar jail, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s former communications in-charge Vijay Nair was given bail by the Supreme Court Monday in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The case is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Granting Nair bail, the apex court again cited the principle that "bail is rule and jail is exception". Referring to Nair's 23-month-long custody, it said pre-trial incarceration cannot become a punishment. Nair was first arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over alleged corruption related to the Delhi excise policy in September 2022. Although he was given bail by a Delhi court in the matter, he was also arrested by the ED and sent to custody. Nair was the first AAP leader to be arrested in the case, followed by then Deputy Chief Minster Manish Sisodia about five months later – and by party chief and CM Arvind Kejriwal eventually in March 2024. It was not until his arrest, however, that the AAP started to acknowledge Nair's role in the party. Close on the heels of his arrest by the CBI, the AAP openly said he was the party’s communications in-charge. The next day, however, Kejriwal called him “AAP ka chhota sa karyakarta (AAP's ordinary worker)”. Nair may have started as a part-time AAP volunteer, but he rose through the ranks quickly to become its communications in-charge and a close aide of Kejriwal in eight years. At the time of his arrest, he was considered to be among the senior most leaders in the party. Nair was among the 15 accused named in the CBI's FIR in the alleged liquor policy case, which listed Sisodia as the accused number 1. Sisodia has been granted bail by the Supreme Court last month after he spent 17 months in jail. The former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and events management company, Nair quit this position in 2017 – a year before he faced allegations of sexual misconduct during his stint at the helm of this company. His association with the AAP began a few years earlier, around 2014-15. “Between 2014 and 2018-19, his role was mostly limited to social media strategy, party events and fund-raising. In 2019, however, things changed. He was the one managing the campaign from start to finish, he decided the messaging as well as optics,” said a party leader. The Indian Express had interviewed Sisodia in August 2022 after his house was raided by the CBI, and asked him in what capacity Nair was associated with the party. Sisodia had replied: “It is not about Vijay Nair. Their intent is to jail all the people associated with Kejriwal.” Another AAP leader said: “Nair has always preferred remaining behind the scenes, and the party has been on the same page. He was behind some of our smartest social media campaigns and posts. Then, in 2019, his role started to change. He went beyond social media and started advising the party on not just communication but also politics, campaigning, manifesto and policy matters.” Sources said that following the AAP’s resounding victory in the 2020 Delhi polls, his stature in the party grew. “He is among the top tier of leaders in the party right now. He doesn’t want or need to be a member of the Political Affairs Committee (the AAP's highest decision-making body) or an office under the Delhi government,” a party insider had said at the time of his arrest. Nair had served as the director of six companies — OML Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Wasteland Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Only Much Louder Event Management Pvt Ltd, Motherswear Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Bebblefish Productions Pvt Ltd and OML Digital Production Pvt Ltd. As per the Registrar of Companies (RoC) at the time of his arrest by the CBI, the first two companies were active but Nair had stopped being the director in mid-2018, while the remaining four had been “struck off”. With OML, Nair was involved in big-ticket live music shows and festivals such as NH7 Weekender. OML also managed prominent independent musicians in the country. According to sources, his footprint in the AAP was clear in several things – from the party and government’s media strategies to its business-friendly policies aimed at revenue generation. Apart from the media strategy, he had also been involved in the policy issues, especially where the involvement of the private sector was considered “desirable”, a source had said. Over time, however, there have been quiet acknowledgment of Nair’s stature in the party. This was also reflected by the statements made by senior AAP leaders, including Sisodia and Atishi, on Monday after he was granted bail by the top court. “Satyamev Jayate. Another figment of the imagination of BJP's fabricated liquor scam story went bust today. Vijay Nair was kept in jail for 23 months without any proof and without any recovery. The only aim was — if we cannot stop Arvind Kejriwal in elections, then we should get him and his entire team arrested by ED-CBI and keep them in jail. It may take time, but in the end truth prevails,” Sisodia said in a post on X. In a similar post, minister Atishi said: “Satyamev Jayate! The BJP central government conspired against the Aam Aadmi Party and put many party leaders in jail. But after Manish Sisodia and Vijay Nair got bail, it has been proved that truth may be troubled, but it cannot be defeated.”
