ED busts Rs 2,000-cr liquor ‘scam’ in Chhattisgarh, alleges politician-bureaucrat nexus

Chhattisgarh,May 7 :  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has busted a Rs 2,000-crore liquor scam which was allegedly being operated with the help of top politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh, a state where the Congress is in power.

The ED has also arrested Anwar Dhebar, a key accused in the case, and has been sent to ED custody for four days. Anwar Dhebar is the brother of Congress leader and Raipur mayor Aijaz Dhebar.

The probe agency had earlier conducted searches at multiple locations in March and recorded the statements of various persons involved in the alleged scam. The agency claims to have collected evidences of “unprecedented corruption and money laundering to the tune of Rs 2,000 crores between 2019 and 2022”.

“PMLA investigation revealed that an organised criminal syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar was operating in Chhattisgarh. Anwar Dhebar, though a private citizen, was backed and worked for illegal gratification of the high-level political executives and senior bureaucrats,” the ED said.

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According to officials, Anwar weaved an elaborate conspiracy and stitched a wide network of persons and entities to execute the scam so that money was illegally collected from every bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh.

Sources said that several bureaucrats and politicians in Chhattisgarh are under the scanner of the ED.

Revenue from liquor (excise duty) is one of the highest contributors to the state excise kitty. Excise departments are mandated to regulate the supply of liquor, ensure quality liquor to users, to prevent hooch tragedies and to earn revenue for the state. However, the ED alleged that their investigation revealed that the criminal syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar did not follow such regulations.

In Chhattisgarh, the state government controls all the aspects of liquor trade from procurement to retail sale to consumer sale. No private liquor shops are allowed. All 800 liquor shops are run by the state government.

The Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) centrally procures all the liquor sold in the state. CSMCL issues tenders for manpower suppliers who run the shops, cash collection tenders, and selects bottle makers and hologram makers.

“With the support of political executives, Anwar Dhebar managed to get a pliant Commissioner and MD of CSMCL, and hired close associates like Vikas Agarwal and Arvind Singh to make the system completely subservient to him. He controlled the entire chain of the liquor trade starting from — private distillers, FL-10A license holders, senior officers of the excise department, district-level excise officers, manpower suppliers, glass bottle makers, hologram makers, cash collection vendors etc. and leveraged it to extort the maximum amount of bribes and commission. Various other stakeholders were also illegally benefitted in the process,” the ED added.

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The ED alleged that the liquor syndicate was running in the state in three patterns.

Pattern 1: Commission of Rs 75-150 per case (depending on type of liquor) was fastidiously charged by the syndicate from the suppliers for each accounted cash procured by CSMCL.

Pattern 2: Anwar Dhebar, in conspiracy with others, started getting manufactured unaccounted country-made raw liquor and sold them through government-run shops. This way, they could keep the entire sale proceeds without depositing anything in the state exchequer. Duplicate holograms were provided, duplicate bottles were procured in cash, and liquor was transported directly from a distiller to shops by-passing state warehouses.

The manpower was trained to sell unaccounted liquor and the entire sale was done in cash. The sale was off the books and sale consideration was siphoned off with every one in the syndicate getting its share including Anwar Dhebar, distiller, transporter, hologram maker, bottle maker, excise official, higher echelons of the excise dept, senior IAS officer(s) and politicians.

 “ED investigation has revealed that in the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, this kind of illegal sale was almost 30-40% of the total sale of the liquor in the state. This generated illegal profits between Rs 1,200-Rs 1,500 crores,” the agency said.

Pattern 3: This was an annual commission which was paid by the main distillers for getting a distillery license and getting a fixed share in the market purchase of CSMCL. Distillers used to pay bribes as per the percentage of market share allotted to them. Procurement was done strictly in this ratio by CSMCL.

Commission from FL-10A license holders was also charged from foreign liquor suppliers. These licenses were given to the associates of Anwar Dhebar.

“It is estimated that in total, Rs 2,000 crores was generated by the syndicate in a short span from 2019 to 2022. Anwar Dhebar is responsible for collection of this entire illegal money, but is not the ultimate beneficiary of this scam. It is established that after deducting a percentage, he had passed on the remaining amounts to his political masters,” officials said.

Earlier, the ED had conducted search operations at 35 locations across Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Delhi, including the residential premises of Anwar Dhebar. However, he slipped out of a secret trap door and did not participate in the search. He was summoned on seven occasions, but did not join the investigation.

The accused was continuously using benami SIM cards, Internet dongles, and he changed locations and after sustained surveillance, he was zeroed on in a hotel room of his associate.

Instead of accepting summons, Anwar Dhebar tried to run away from the back door, but was caught while escaping the ED’s radar. Subsequently, he was arrested and a Raipur court remanded him to four days of ED custody.

-The India Today