Liquor scam’: Hemant Soren’s ex-principal secy named in the Chattisgarh ACB’s FIR

The FIR, registered under Prevention of Corruption Act among other sections, states, “…(The FIR has been registered against the) syndicate for conspiring with the officials of Jharkhand to change the excise policy of Jharkhand and getting the tenders of the liquor to the people of the syndicate, thereby committing fraud and causing loss of crores of rupees to the (Jharkhand) government.”

Choubey deliberately applied the eligibility rule as a condition for the liquor supply agency and placement agencies to participate in the tender. The FIR stated that the work of wholesale supply of both Indian and foreign liquor was done by the syndicate and a condition of minimum turnover of Rs 100 crores continuously for two financial years was included in the mandatory eligibility criteria among others.

The FIR reads: “…Due to the earlier practice of contractors in Jharkhand, no firm fulfilling the above condition could be eligible in Jharkhand. Due to the said rule, the syndicate’s partners…were awarded the tender for wholesale supply of Indian and foreign liquor.”

Similarly in the manpower supply, a total bank guarantee amount of Rs 11.28 crore was imposed for 310 shops across Jharkhand, the FIR said. “Also, a turnover of Rs 50 crores for 3 years was made mandatory for the companies to participate…The conditions were imposed according to the efficiency of the agencies working in Chhattisgarh and it was not possible for every company to participate in the tender in a normal way…The owners of all the above companies gave the work of manpower supply to one person Siddharth Singhania in Ranchi on their behalf, who opened an office in Ranchi and supplied manpower alone on behalf of all the companies.”

Earlier, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had earlier arrested various persons including the then Chattisgarh IAS officer Anil Tuteja and others in a ‘liquor scam’ in Chhattisgarh investigated during the Congress’ rule in the state–a charge rebuked by the earlier Bhupesh Baghel government as ‘political vendetta’ by the Centre. In the same case, officials from Jharkhand were called by the ED in Chhattisgarh for questioning, since both the states had similar policies with similar companies implementing the new policy. However, none of the Jharkhand officers were named.

During the ACB’s preliminary probe, a diary was recovered from a manpower supplier Siddharth Singhania which showed a plan for the sale of illegal liquor in Jharkhand like Chhattisgarh.

“On reading the diary, it is clearly visible that a planning has been done to make the sale of liquor illegal in Jharkhand like Chhattisgarh. (There were writings) like: ‘support of both police and excise will be necessary’, ‘one group will have to be brought on our side’, ‘liquor of Haryana and Punjab will have to be controlled’, and ‘Basant Soren and Yogendra Tiwari will be our main enemy’.”

Yogendra Tiwary was earlier arrested by the ED October 19 last year in a case of illegal earning through fraud committed in the sale of liquor, money laundering. Basant Soren is the brother of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The current FIR involving Choubey stated that in January 2022 the syndicate in Chhattisgarh along with Vinay Choubey and others in Jharkhand ended the contractor system in the sale of country and foreign made liquor and replaced it with the system then implemented by the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited( CSMCL).

The FIR stated that there was a meeting held between Raipur and a similar meeting took place in Jharkhand on how to replicate the illegal system of earning of Chhattisgarh model.

“A new Excise Policy was made and a resolution was passed in the Jharkhand assembly on the new rules…and CSMCL’s Arunpati Tripathi was appointed as the consultant, and as per the plan, Tripathi prepared a similar policy like Chattigarh and presented it before the Jharkhand government…The new Excise Rules were notified March 31, 2022 and for the new policy Jharkhand government gave Tripathi Rs 1.25 crore,” the FIR stated.