The ED said that a large-scale liquor trade has been carried out by a syndicate in Chhattisgarh.
Raipur:
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Anil Tuteja was the “mastermind” of an illegal liquor syndicate in Chhattisgarh along with liquor baron Anwar Dhebar and that corruption money was also used for election campaign.
The ED said that its probe also revealed that from 2019 to 2022, “unaccounted illegal” liquor sales accounted for about 30-40 per cent of the total liquor sales in the state.
In its application filed in a special court in Raipur on Saturday seeking the remand of liquor baron Anwar Dhebar, the ED said large-scale liquor smuggling in Chhattisgarh was carried out by a syndicate of high-level officials of the state government, private individuals and political officials. was traded. Corruption money of over Rs 2,000 crore.
Anwar is the elder brother of Congress leader and Mayor of Raipur Ejaz Dhebar. Tuteja, a 2003 batch IAS officer, is currently posted as Joint Secretary in the state Industries and Commerce Department.
The ED had arrested Anwar Dhebar on Saturday. A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court later sent him to ED’s four-day custody.
The agency had registered a case against Tuteja and others last year to probe the case under PMLA on the basis of a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the Income Tax Department in a Delhi court against Tuteja and others.
The ED claimed that a criminal syndicate was operating in Chhattisgarh, controlling key state departments, especially the excise department (which deals in liquor) and the top-level management of the state’s Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Was collecting illegal bribe.
The syndicate consisted of high-level officials of the state government, private individuals and political officials of the state government. Tuteja was managing the affairs and was the kingpin of this illegal syndicate along with Anwar.
“Huge amount of corruption was taking place in the Excise Department and hundreds of crores of cash was being collected from every possible point of access in a distributed hierarchical manner. The syndicate, after getting their cut, passed on the final loot for political gains. ” officials and for campaigning…,” it said.
Anwar was the main collection agent and front man of this syndicate. The ED claimed to have specific digital evidence showing delivery of Rs 14.41 crore by Anwar to Tuteja.
The agency’s application states that the syndicate collected illegal money from the sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh in three different ways.
These included illegal commission charged from liquor suppliers for its sale in the state, off-the-record sale of unaccounted country liquor (popular in Chhattisgarh) from state-run shops, and payments to allow distillers to operate in the state Annual commission is included. ,
The excise policy in the state was revised in 2017 and the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) was created with the responsibility of retailing liquor through its stores in the state.
The ED said that in May 2019, Arunpati Tripathi was made the Managing Director of CSMCL at the behest of Anwar.
Tripathi was then tasked with maximizing the kickback commission charged on liquor purchased by CSMCL and making necessary arrangements for the sale of non-duty paid liquor in corporation-run shops. In this campaign, Tripathi was supported by Anwar and senior IAS officers.
The agency’s probe has revealed that Anwar had called a meeting in 2019 to fix the quantum of commission on the sale of country liquor, demanding Rs 75 per case commission to distillers against its purchase by CSMCL. In return, Anwar promised to raise their “landing rates” proportionately. ED said. This arrangement was accepted and the syndicate started charging huge amount of commission on the sale of the calculated liquor boxes. It states that most of the amount collected was given to Anwar and he shared most of it with a political party.
“Another sinister scheme was hatched to manufacture and sell unaccounted liquor. Unaccounted liquor was sold from state-run shops. Duplicate holograms and bottles were used. Liquor was sold directly from distillers to shops bypassing state warehouses. Used to be transported to. Excise officials were involved. Entire. The sale was done in cash,” the ED claimed.
“No income tax and no excise duty etc. were paid. The entire sale was off the books. With each person including the distiller, transporter, hologram maker, bottle maker, excise officer, higher officials getting their share of the entire sale The idea was hijacked. Excise Department official, Anwar Dhebar, senior IAS officer and politician.”
The ED probe has revealed that from 2019 to 2022, such illegal sale was around 30-40 per cent of the total sale of liquor in the state, he claimed.
After paying distillers and local excise officials, Anwar took the maximum balance and after deducting the 15 per cent earmarked for himself and Tuteja, supplied the rest to politicians as directed by the highest political officials of the state. ED alleged.
It is clear that since 2019 there has been rampant corruption in the Excise Department of Chhattisgarh… ED investigation has revealed that corruption money of over Rs 2,000 crore has been generated by this syndicate.
Anwar is not the ultimate beneficiary of all the proceeds of crime generated in this case. He is just a private person who does not hold any position in the government and is using his proximity to the mayor of Raipur and the ruling political party (Congress).
The ED claimed that Anwar has kept his associate Vikas Agarwal in Dubai and all proceeds illegally earned from the crime have been invested in the UAE to siphon off.
Anwar’s lawyer Rahul Tyagi on Saturday claimed that the action against his client seems to be politically motivated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)