The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has issued Lookout Circular (LOC) against eight private persons named as accused in the excise policy case, news agency ANI reported . The CBI has booked 15 persons including Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, government officials, and other private persons in the excise policy case.

A total of nine private persons have been named in the FIR. Except for Manoj Rai, ex-vice president of Pernod Ricard, LOC has been issued against all private persons, the agency said citing agency sources.

The accused include Vijay Nair, former CEO of Only Much Louder, Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits, Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indospirit, Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail, Dinesh Arora of Radha Industries, Sunny Marwah of Mahadev Liquors, a proprietorship firm. The accused also include Arjun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey.

The CBI has also booked then excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, then excise deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar. The agency in its FIR states that Sisodia, Krishna, Tiwari, and Bhatnagar were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend

undue favours to the licencees post tender.

Earlier in the day, Sisodia said a lookout notice had been issued against him. However, the CBI officials reportedly said that there was no such circular. The officials said that since Manish Sisodia is a public servant he already needs approval to leave the country. Therefore, there might be no necessity for a separate lookout circular, they said.