Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam: Former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma has been arrested by ED in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case. On Wednesday, he reached the ED office for questioning for the third time. ED arrested him during questioning. His son is also an accused in this case, but he has not been arrested.
The court has given the remand of Kawasi Lakhma to ED till January 21. While appearing in the court, Kawasi Lakhma said- Not a single rupee was seized from me, nor any document was found. Shah, Modi and the entire BJP government are harassing me by making fake cases. I will continue to raise the voice of Bastar.
Lakhma did not come with his CA
ED officials had called Kawasi along with his CA for questioning today. But he came alone to the ED office. Lakhma said that his CA is out, that is why he did not come. Lakhma came with his son, however his son Harish Lakhma has not been arrested.
Earlier, he and his son Harish Lakhma were questioned by ED officials for 8 hours each twice. Before going inside the office, Lakhma said that the country runs according to the law, if they call me according to the law, I will come 25 times. I will answer whatever questions the ED officials ask. I will respect them.
Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam Case: People Arrested So Far
- Retired IAS Anil Tuteja
- Businessman Anwar Dhebar
- Former CSMCL MD Arun Prakash Tripathi
- Arvind Singh
- Nitesh Purohit
- Sunil Dutt
- Businessman Trilok Singh Dhillon
- Dilip Pandey
- Deepak Dwari
- Anurag Singh
- Anurag Dwivedi
- Vikas Aggarwal
Note: Arrests have been made in different cases by the ED and EOW.
ED got important evidence
According to sources, Kawasi Lakhma has given information to ED about the liquor system run during the Congress government. During this interrogation, Lakhma kept confusing the ED officers several times by saying that he was illiterate and did not understand what was written in the document.
However, ED has not officially said anything about this inquiry. After the raid at Lakhma’s house, the Directorate had said that the former minister was taking commission. Now ED is preparing to make some new arrests in this case soon.
The ED, which is investigating the Chhattisgarh liquor scam, has lodged an FIR with the ACB on the allegation of selling liquor using duplicate holograms .
The FIR mentions a scam of more than two thousand crore rupees. In its investigation, the ED found that during the tenure of the then Bhupesh government, the scam was carried out through an illegal syndicate of IAS officer Anil Tuteja, MD of Excise Department AP Tripathi and businessman Anwar Dhebar.
The ACB is investigating the FIR lodged by the ED. According to the information received from the ACB, from 2019 to 2022, illegal liquor was sold from government liquor shops by using duplicate holograms. Due to which the government has suffered a loss of revenue worth crores.
Incriminating records also found
The ED wrote on X that, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002, searches were conducted at seven places located in Raipur, Dhamtari and Sukma districts in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case.
The ED has been able to gather evidence related to the use of Proceeds of Crime (POC) in cash by Kawasi Lakhma during the relevant period of the scam. In addition, several digital devices were recovered and seized during the search, which are believed to contain incriminating records.
Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam: Role of Accused in the Core Group of the Syndicate
Anil Tuteja:
He was the Joint Secretary of the Commerce and Industry Department. Played a pivotal role in the formation of the syndicate.
Anwar Dhebar:
A hotel operator. Formed the syndicate. Planned how and where the money would flow and finalized everyone’s share.
Arun Prakash Tripathi:
During the Congress government, he was CMD of CSMCL. Assigned work related to excise management, cash collection, hologram supplies, and liquor transportation to his close associates.
Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam: The amount of the scam is Rs 2161 crore
Regarding the action against Lakhma, the Directorate said that ED’s investigation had earlier revealed that the liquor syndicate of Anwar Dhebar, Anil Tuteja and others was operating in the state of Chhattisgarh. The amount of this scam is Rs 2161 crore. The investigation has revealed that Kawasi Lakhma has received commission every month from POC from the liquor scam.
According to ED, this is how illegal earnings were made in the liquor scam that ran between 2019 and 2022.
- Part-A Commission: Bribe was collected from distillers per ‘case’ of liquor purchased from them by CSMCL, the state body for purchase and sale of liquor.
- Part-B Sale of raw liquor: Unaccounted “raw off-the-book” country liquor was sold. In this case not a single rupee reached the government treasury and the entire sale amount was grabbed by the syndicate. Illegal liquor was sold from government shops only.
- Part-C Commission: Bribes were taken from liquor manufacturers to form cartels and ensure certain market shares. Commissions were taken from FL-10A licence holders who were brought into the foreign liquor sector to earn money.
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