New Delhi, Apr 15 The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to former IAS officer Anil Tuteja in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had termed retired bureaucrat Tuteja, known to be close to then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, as the mastermind behind the alleged liquor scam.
Granting bail, a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan took note of the fact that Tuteja has undergone incarceration for more than a year, and in the trial proceedings, more than 30 witnesses are required to be examined.
Further, the Justice Oka-led Bench noted that the Chhattisgarh High Court recently set aside the special court’s order taking cognisance since no sanction was obtained by the ED as required under the law.
The apex court ordered the jurisdictional sessions court to enlarge Tuteja on bail with stringent conditions to be fixed after hearing the ED.
The money laundering investigation stems from an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Chhattisgarh under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The ED had claimed that a criminal syndicate -- comprising high-level state government officials, private individuals, and politicians -- was operating in Chhattisgarh, which was involved in illegal bribe collection by exerting control over government departments. Its investigation has identified several mechanisms by which the scam operated between 2019 and 2022.
First, according to ED, bribes were collected from various distillers for each case of liquor procured by the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL). Second, illegal sales of unaccounted "kacha" liquor generated significant revenue for the syndicate, with no proceeds reaching the state exchequer. This illegal liquor was sold through state-run shops. Third, bribes were accepted from distillers to facilitate cartelisation and allocate fixed market shares. Also, commissions were taken from license holders introduced in the foreign liquor segment.
The ED estimates that the scam caused a massive loss to the state exchequer, amounting to over Rs 2,100 crore, which was siphoned off by the syndicate.
In April last year, the Supreme Court had quashed a money laundering complaint filed by the ED against Tuteja, Yash Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, and others based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department. It had ruled that the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) could not be attracted since there exists no prima facie scheduled offence under the PMLA.
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