A special court in Raipur has granted a 14-day Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) remand of retired IAS (Indian Administrative Service) official Anil Tuteja in connection with the alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh, on Monday, May 6.
Tuteja was produced before the court following the completion of his previous remand of two days. He was earlier produced in court on Saturday following the completion of his previous remand granted by the court on April 29.
The court, however, had turned down the bail petition of Anwar Dhebar, who was also lodging in jail in coonection with the same case.
Tuteja’s remand was granted days after the ED provisionally attached 18 movable and 161 immovable properties worth Rs 2.05 crore (approximately) of Anil Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, and others in connection with the alleged liquor scam.
The attached properties include 14 assets of Tuteja worth Rs 15.82 crore, 115 properties of Anwar Dhebar worth Rs 116.16 crore, and other assets and properties belonging to other accused.
ED, Raipur has provisionally attached 18 movable and 161 immovable properties worth Rs. 205.49 Crore (approx.) belonging to Anil Tuteja, Ex-IAS, Anwar Dhebar and others in the ongoing investigation of liquor scam in the State of Chhattisgarh. pic.twitter.com/wK378rPXTq
— ED (@dir_ed) May 3, 2024
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 the ED’s investigation into the case.
According to ED, who also has claimed to be in possession of digital evidence indicating receipts of crores of Rs linked to Tuteja, the former IAS also played a significant role in the appointment of Arun Pati Tripathi as the managing director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL).
Notably, the agency had arrested Tuteja after grilling him in connection with the case on April 20. Tuteja was taken to the EDs office from the Economic Offence Wing and the Anti Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) office where he had arrived to record his statement into the same case.
Tuteja was arrested by the ED after the agency filed a fresh ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) into the matter after the apex court quashed its earlier FIR which was based on an Income Tax department complaint. The fresh ECIR is based on the FIR registered by the EOW/ACB.
It is to be noted that the EOW/ACB filed an FIR into the matter in January of this year 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.
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.
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