Raipur: A special court of Raipur rejected the anticipatory bail plea of former Chhattisgarh Excise Minister and incumbent Congress MLA, Kawasi Lakhma on Wednesday, February 5.
Lakhma who is currently in Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody has approached the court with anticipatory bail plea to avoid arrest by Economic Offence Wing’s (EOW) of Chhattisgarh. The court however turned down his bail petition, while extending his ED’s custody by two weeks.
Lakhma’s was set to be produced before the court following completion of his previous custody period on February 4. However, owing to security related issue Lakhma’s hearing was done via video conferencing on Wednesday after which the court extended his custody till February 18.
A special court had earlier granted a 14-day judicial custody of Lakhma till February 4. While being taken to the remand, Lakhma pleaded his innocence, quoting that the voice of a common man from Bastar is being silenced.
ED arrested Kawasi Lakhma, the sitting MLA from Bastar in connection with Rs 2100 crore liquor scam on January 15 after he appeared before the agency’s zonal office at Raipur. He was subsequently produced before a special court from where he was sent to six-day ED custody.
The agency on January 15 claimed that the arrested MLA Lakhma was receiving Rs 2 crore on a monthly basis out of the proceeds of crime generated under Rs 2100 alleged liquor scam, which ran between the years 2019 to 2022 during the previous Congress government regime.
“Lakhma was paid Rs 2 crore on a monthly basis, which includes two separate payments of Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 1.5 crore. The information about the money being delivered to Lakhma was revealed to the agency by a jailed official of the excise department Arun Pati Tripathi and another accused in the case Arvind Singh, informed ED’s Counsel Saurabh Pandey.
“We have also recovered several digital evidences which led to the discovery that a large proportion of the said money was basically used in construction of a private premise and for the construction of Congress party office in Sukma district,” he added.
ED officials are also investigating the role of other people involved in the scam and, it is being speculated that the agency could make more arrests on the basis of findings of the ongoing probe.
According to ED, Lakhma was the main recipient of proceeds of crime in cash during his regime as excise minister in the previous Congress government. ED investigation into the liquor scam has revealed that proceeds of crime were generated as illegal commissions, which were generated in multiple ways.
ED raided residential premises of Lakhma, his son Harish and another close associate of the former minister on December 28, seizing multiple digital devices believed to be containing incriminating records
Retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, former excise department official Arun Pati Tripathi, former Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar’s elder brother Anwar Dhebar, liquor businessman Trilok Singh Dhillon and Arvind Singh are already in jail in connection with the multi-crore scam
