28 excise officers granted bail by SC also named in ED liquor scam case in Chhattisgarh
RAIPUR: The 28 state excise officers who the Supreme Court granted bail in the liquor scam chargesheet filed by the Chhattisgarh Bureau for Investigation of Economic Offences (EOW) are also among the 81 accused in an alleged Rs 3000-crore liquor fraud investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED filed a 29,800-page Relied Upon Documents, cited as the concluding challan, before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur in the liquor scam. The key arrests in the case include former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, a six-time Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma, former deputy secretary to the chief minister office Soumya Chaurasia, retired IAS Niranjan Das, special secretary Excise department Arun Pati Tripathi, businessman Anwar Dhebar among others. There is no mention of former chief minister and Congress MLA Bhupesh Baghel in the ED chargesheet. The central probe agency claimed that the excise department had played a major role in acquiring funds for a political party during the 2023 Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. The officials of the excise department who were bestowed with the responsibility to gather the amount were given to excise officials Dinkar Vasnik, Naveen Singh Tomar, Vikas Goswami, Nitu Notani and Iqbal Khan, it stated. The liquor fraud practices were carried out in as many 15 districts of the state and the liquor supply for distribution among candidates stated to have been arranged during the Assembly polls. The ED has also contended the roles of Chaitanya (son of ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel) and Yash Tuteja (son of former IAS) as major in the liquor syndicate, which according to the federal probe agency operated illegal bribe collections by controlling the high-level management of key state departments in Chhattisgarh. The probe agency investigating the liquor scam from 2022 has produced the final charge sheet in Raipur on Friday. Around two dozen have been arrested so far in connection with the case. The SC had earlier asked the ED to produce the final challan within 3 months as the case was being probed since 2022. We will go ahead with the pending bail plea for accused in custody and further move applications for others made accused but not arrested. The hearing of the entire case will now continue in the trial court, said Faisal Rizvi, defence lawyer.
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