Chhattisgarh IAS officer 'Kingpin' of illegal liquor syndicate: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday told a Raipur court that more than Rs 2,000 crore of corruption money had been generated by a syndicate “comprising high-level State government officials, private persons and Political Executives of the State government” through an alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh. The agency has alleged that Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Anil Tuteja was the “kingpin” of an illegal liquor syndicate in the state along with liquor businessman Anwar Dhebar and the corruption money was also used for electioneering.

The ED said its investigation also revealed that from 2019 to 2022, the sale of “unaccounted illicit” liquor was almost 30-40 per cent of the total liquor sale in the state. In its application filed in a special court in Raipur seeking remand of liquor businessman Anwar Dhebar, the ED said there was a massive liquor trade scam in Chhattisgarh by a syndicate comprising high-level state government officials, private persons and political executives that generated corruption money of more than Rs 2,000 crore. Anil Tuteja IAS, Joint Secretary in Department of Industry and Commerce, was managing the affair and was the kingpin of this illegal syndicate along with Anwar Dhebar. They had close proximity to the political executive and were misusing them. They were running systematic extortion and corruption, particularly in the rich excise department," read the ED's documents.

The agency filed a case last year against Tuteja and others to investigate the matter under the PMLA on the basis of prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the Income Tax Department in a Delhi court against Tuteja and others, it said. Anwar was the main collection agent and front man of this syndicate. There is specific digital evidence depicting delivery of Rs 14.41 crore by Anwar to Tuteja, the ED claimed.  The agency’s application said the syndicate collected illegal money in three different ways from the sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh. These included illegal commission charged from liquor suppliers for accounted its sale in the state, sale of off-the-record unaccounted country liquor (popular in Chhattisgarh) from state run shops and annual commission paid to allow distillers to operate in the state, it said.

The excise policy in the state was amended in 2017 and the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) was thus created with the responsibility to retail liquor in the state through its stores. “A more sinister scheme was made to manufacture and sell unaccounted illicit liquor. Unaccounted liquor was sold from state run shops. Duplicate holograms and bottles were used. Liquor was transported directly from distiller to shops bypassing state warehouses. Excise officials were involved. The entire sale was done in cash,” the ED claimed.“No income tax and no excise duty, etc were paid. The entire sale was off the books. The entire sale consideration was siphoned off with each person getting its share including distiller, transporter, hologram maker, bottle maker, excise official, higher echelons of excise department, Anwar Dhebar, senior IAS officer(s) and politicians,” it said.