Enforcement Directorate arrests retd Chhattisgarh IAS officer in liquor ‘scam’
New Delhi, April 21
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a retired Chhattisgarh IAS officer, Anil Tuteja, in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 2,000-crore liquor scam.
According to sources, the agency arrested Tuteja on Saturday from the office of the Economic Offences Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) in Raipur, where he, along with his son Yash Tuteja, had gone to record their statements in the same case. They were issued summons by the ED to join the investigation and record their statements following which they were taken to the central agency’s office here.
The former bureaucrat was questioned and later taken into custody under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His son was allowed to leave after questioning.
The sources said Tuteja was expected to be produced before a magistrate in Raipur where the agency would seek his remand. The officer retired from service last year. He was last designated as Joint Secretary in the Industry and Commerce Department of Chhattisgarh.
The ED had filed a fresh money laundering case in the alleged liquor scam case after the Supreme Court recently quashed its earlier FIR that was based on an Income Tax Department complaint. The apex court ruled there was no scheduled offence and hence the money laundering case did not stand.
The EOW/ACB had registered the FIR on January 17, a month after the BJP had defeated the incumbent Congress government in the Assembly poll, and named 70 individuals and companies, including former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma, former Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and others.
According to agencies, money was “illegally” collected from “every” bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh and evidence of “unprecedented” corruption and money laundering of Rs 2,000 crore generated by an alcohol syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, had been unearthed, the ED had alleged.
In May last year, the ED had attached 119 immovable assets worth Rs 121.87 crore of Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, Arunpati Tripathi and others in the ongoing investigation into the liquor scam.
On May 15, 2023, the ED had arrested Tripathi, MD of CSMCL and Special Secretary (Excise), Chhattisgarh, for his role in the money laundering offence in the liquor scam. A special court had, the same day, sent Tripathi and accused Dhebar, Nitesh Purohit, Trilok Singh Dhillon to the ED custody.
