ED attaches properties worth Rs 121.87 crore in Chhattisgarh liquor scam case

The attached properties include 14 properties of Anil Tuteja worth Rs 8.83 crore, 69 properties of Anwar Dhebar worth Rs 98.78 crore, and one property of Arunpati Tripathi worth Rs 1.35 crore. The attached properties of Dhebar include Hotel Vennington Court, Raipur, which is run under the aegis of his firm, M/s A Dhebar Buildcon.

Among other properties attached are three properties of Vikash Agarwal alias Subbu worth Rs 1.54 crore and another 32 properties of Arvind Singh worth Rs 11.35 crore.

According to ED, the alleged liquor scam ran between 2019 and 2022. The government officials accused of the scam allegedly collected bribes from the distillers per case of liquor procured from them by the CSMCL (state body for the purchase and sale of liquor).

The alleged gang running the scam also sold unaccounted country liquor and its sales were kept off-the-books, resulting in not even a single rupee reaching the state exchequer and all the sale proceeds were pocketed by the syndicate. Incidentally, the illegal liquor was sold from state-run shops.

The bribes collected by government officials were taken from distillers to allow them to make a cartel and have a fixed market share. A commission was also collected from licensed dealers of foreign liquor, said investigating officers.

Till now, Anwar Dhebar, Nitesh Purohit, Trilok Singh Dhillon, and Arunpati Tripathi have been arrested in this case. ED has also conducted more than 50 search operations at various locations in Raipur, Bhilai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai and has been successful in seizing movable assets worth Rs 58 crore including cash, fixed deposits, shares, and jewellery. The total seizure and attachment in the case stand at Rs 180 crore.