The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been granted a further remand of six days of former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and main accused in the Rs 2000 crore alleged liquor scam of Chhattisgarh Anil Tuteja, on Monday, April 29.
Tuteja was the main kingpin of the alleged scam, which flourished in the State under the Congress government regime, according to the ED’s investigation into the case.
Earlier, the ED, after completion of the five-day remand of Tuteja produced him in a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court and pleaded for another six days of remand to which the court agreed.
According to the details, the ED, in its remind petition has mentioned that the syndicate for liquor scam was made up by Anwar Dhebhar though Tuteja remained the power player in the cartel who was controlling everything.
Meanwhile opposing the petition filed by the ED, Tuteja’s councilor on the other hand while claiming that his client was only interrogated for an hour said that further remind of his council is not required at all.
Who is Anil Tuteja
Tuteja a 2003 batch IAS officer who retired last year was allegedly the main kingpin of the scam and was closely associated with Anwar Dhebar another key figure of the scam and brother of senior Congress leader Azaj Dhebar.
According to ED, evidence pertaining to Tuteja’s direct involvement in managing the State administration for smooth operation of the liquor syndicate have been gathered along with digital evidence indicating receipts of crores of Rs linked to him.
The agency has further also disclosed that Tuteja also played a significant role in the appointment of Arun Pati Tripathi as the managing director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL).
Earlier the central agency had arrested Tuteja after grilling him in connection with the case on April 20. Tuteja was taken to the EDs office from Economic Offence Wing and the Anti Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) office where he had arrived to record his statement into the same case.
The development occurred after the central agency has recently filed a fresh case into the matter after the apex court quashed its FIR which was based on an Income Tax department complaint.
EOW/ACB investigation into the case
It is noteworthy that earlier the EOW/ACB had also arrested the former State Special Secretary of Excise, Arun Pati Tripathi, another accused in the case on 11th of this month, alongside raiding as many as 21 premises related to businessmen and others suspected to be part of the multi-crore scam.
Tripathi was the third catch by the EOW/ACB after the agencies earlier apprehended transporter Arvind Singh and Anwar Dhebar, another key figure of the Rs 2000 crore scam as claimed by ED in its report to the EOW/ACB.
Earlier, the EOW/ACB had also raided as many as 21 premises of 4 districts, including of 9 in Raipur, 7 in Durg-Bhilai, 4 in Bilaspur and one in Rajnandgoan in connection with the case. The agencies during the raids had also seized a whopping Rs 19 lakh in cash, along with documents, jewelry, and digital devices.
It is to be noted that the EOW/ACB in January this year had filed an FIR into the matter after the ED submitted its investigation report indicating an alleged scam of over Rs 2000 crore. In the FIR filed the agencies had named as many as 70 people, including of businessmen, leaders of the Congress party, and a few State officials in connection with the multi crore scam.
ED’s previous Investigation into the case
It is worth mentioning here that the ED, after its previous probe, claimed to unearth a Rs 2100 crore liquor scam in the state being operated by a cartel composed of bureaucrats, private liquor suppliers, government officials and persons with heavy political backing. Later on, the ED arrested Anwar Dhebar on May 6 last year and claimed that Anwar was the main kingpin on the grounds that around over Rs 2000 crore was illegally generated by the criminal syndicate.
Subsequently, the ED had also attached as many as 119 immovable assets worth Rs 121.87 cr of Anwar Dhebar, Anil Tuteja, Arunpati Tripathi and others in connection with the multi-crore liquor scam of Chhattisgarh in May 2023
Later on, ED had also directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to take stringent action against the bureaucrats who are involved in cases of graft. The ED in its complaint, had asked the UP police to investigate irregularities by a Noida based company, ‘Prizm Holography Security Films Private limited’ owned by Vidhu Gupta for supplying duplicate holograms to the liquor syndicate allegedly operating in Chhattisgarh.
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