ED Raid in Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand Liquor Scam Case: Team Entered the Bar Operator’s Hideout; Conspiracy to Change the Excise Policy Was Hatched in Raipur
Raipur
The ED conducted raids in the liquor scam case in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. It is said that a raid was conducted at the house of a bar operator living in Ashoka Ratan, Raipur. Early in the morning, the ED team entered the bar operator’s hideout. Apart from Chhattisgarh, the ED team raided the hideouts of Jharkhand’s Senior IAS Officer Vinay Chaubey, Joint Secretary of Excise Department Gajendra Singh, and other close relatives and CAs of the concerned officials on Tuesday morning. The ED team reached early in the morning. The policy was decided in Chhattisgarh in the liquor scam case in Jharkhand, it was learnt. In such a situation, there is talk of action against the officers and former officers of the Excise Department, but it has not been officially confirmed.
The ED surrounded the close associates of Jharkhand’s former Excise Secretary IAS Vinay Chaubey and Joint Secretary Gajendra Singh in Ranchi and Raipur. Investigation is going on at the place of bar businessman Rathore, resident of Ashoka Ratan in Raipur. Rathore is the operator of a bar located at Katora Talab.
The Economic Offenses Wing of Chhattisgarh Police, EOW, already registered an FIR in this case against the then Secretary of the Excise Department, Vinay Kumar Chaubey, and Joint Secretary Gajendra Singh. Vikas Kumar of Ranchi applied for registering an FIR. After this, an FIR was registered in Raipur. It was told in the application that the entire conspiracy of the liquor scam was hatched in Raipur by changing the excise policy.
In the new FIR, apart from Jharkhand IAS Vinay Kumar Choubey, Gajendra Singh, retired IAS Anil Tuteja of Chhattisgarh, companies making liquor supply, manpower, and holograms in Jharkhand have also been made accused. This FIR has been done under section 420, 120 B of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Retired IAS Anil Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, and others, allegedly associated with the syndicate making illegal money through the liquor business in Chhattisgarh, got the rule of liquor sale made in January 2022 for business in Jharkhand along with Vinay Kumar Choubey and other excise officers. Arunpati Tripathi, MD of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation, was made a consultant in Jharkhand. For this, Tripathi was paid Rs 1.25 crore. Vinay Chaubey and Gajendra Singh put a condition of turnover of Rs 100 crore in the tender condition for liquor supply agency and placement agencies to show profit to the syndicate.
The FIR mentions that Jharkhand suffered a huge loss of revenue in 2022-23 due to the criminal conspiracy of the liquor syndicate. In the initial investigation conducted after the complaint, it was found that crores of commission were taken from liquor companies by changing the rules. It has also been said that, during the investigation earlier, a diary was found in the possession of a businessman named Siddharth Singhania. In this diary, like Chhattisgarh, the plan to capture the liquor business in Jharkhand was recorded.
Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam…FIR Against Former Secretary of Jharkhand CM: Case Registered Against IAS Vinay and Gajendra Singh in EOW; Marandi Said- Preparations for Scam Were Made Before Leaving
FIR was registered against Jharkhand IAS Vinay Kumar Chaubey and former Joint Commissioner of Excise Gajendra Singh in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case. Raipur EOW registered a new case against both the officers under sections of fraud and criminal conspiracy.
