Chhattisgarh liquor scam: ED unearths corruption, money laundering to tune of Rs 2,000 crore

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], May 7 : A day after the arrest of Anwar Dhebar, brother of Congress leader and Raipur mayor Aijaz Dhebar, in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Sunday that it has found evidence of "unprecedented corruption" and money laundering worth Rs 2,000 crores, which was being run with the support of high-level politicians and bureaucrats in the state.

"The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested Anwar Dhebar yesterday under the provisions of PMLA 2002 in the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh. ED had earlier conducted searches at multiple locations in March and has recorded the statements of various persons involved in the process and collected evidence of unprecedented corruption and money laundering to the tune of Rs 2,000 crores between 2019-2022" said ED in a statement.

After the arrest, Dhebar was produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur and remanded in the ED's custody for four days. After giving ED a miss while the agency was conducting a search at his residence, Anwar Dhebar was at last caught by the sleuths when he was trying to run away through the back door of a hotel room of his close associate.

According to ED, he was continuously using benami SIM Cards and internet dongles, changing locations and after sustained surveillance was zeroed in the hotel room of his close associate.

Prior to this, ED had conducted searches at multiple locations in March and recorded the statements of various persons involved in the process of the illegal supply of liquor. The agency collected pieces of evidence of unprecedented corruption and money laundering to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore between 2019 and 2022.

The investigation revealed that an orgsed crime syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar was operating in Chhattisgarh. According to ED, Anwar Dhebar, though a private citizen, was backed by and was working for illegal gratification of high-level political executives and senior bureaucrats. According to the agency, he weaved an elaborate conspiracy and stitched a wide network of persons or entities to execute the scam so that money was illegally collected from every bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh.

Revenue from liquor is one of the highest contributors to the state's kitty. Excise departments are mandated to regulate the supply of liquor, ensure quality liquor to users to prevent hooch tragedies and to earn revenue. However, ED said an investigation revealed that criminal syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar had turned upside down all these objectives.

In Chhattisgarh, the government controls all the aspects of liquor trade from procurement to retail sale to consumer. No private liquor shops are allowed. All 800 liquor shops are run by the state. Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation (CSMCL) centrally procures all the liquor sold in Chhattisgarh. CSMCL issues tenders for manpower suppliers who run the shops, cash collection tenders and selects bottle makers and hologram makers.

With the support of the political executives, Anwar Dhebar managed to get a pliant commissioner and MD of CSMCL and hired close associates like Vikas Agarwal who was known as Subbu and Arvind Singh to make the system completely subservient to him, according to the agency.

He controlled the entire chain of the liquor trade starting from private distillers, licence holders, senior officers of the excise department, district-level excise officers, manpower suppliers, etc, and leveraged it to extort the maximum amount of bribes and commission. Various other stakeholders also illegally benefited in the process.

ED investigation has revealed that in the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, this kind of illegal sale was almost 30-40 per cent of the total sale of liquor in the State. This generated Rs 1,200-1,500-crore illegal profits. The case is still being investigated, the agency said.

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