The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Chhattisgarh Saturday conducted raids at 13 places across five districts in connection with its investigation into a multi-crore liquor scam in the state. According to officials, the raids were conducted in places associated with aides of former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, arrested in the case in January.
Raids were conducted in Raipur, Jagdalpur, Ambikapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts, the EOW said.
According to the Enforcement Directorate – which is also investigating the case — the alleged liquor scam occurred between 2019 and 2022, a period when the state had a Congress government under Bhupesh Baghel. Lakhma, a six-time MLA from Konta, was a minister under the Baghel government.
The case pertains to allegations that a criminal syndicate, in connivance with excise officials, was bootlegging alcohol to government liquor shops and extorting illegal commissions from their sale. According to the ED, the syndicate has amassed Rs 2,161 crore.
The ED claims that Konta, a tribal leader from Sukma, had amassed a total of 72 crore over a period of 36 months.
In a statement to the press, the EOW, which registered a case last year based on the ED investigation, claimed that Lakhma was suspected to have kept the money he had allegedly amassed with people close to him, who have in turn invested it. The statement said 13 teams were involved in the raids.
Important documents related to the case, mobile phones, electronic devices, and bank and land papers have been recovered during the raids, the statement said, adding that the police also found Rs 19 lakh.
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This comes two months after the ED conducted raids at the residences of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his son Chaitanya in connection with the scam. Baghel had condemned the raids and called it an act of political conspiracy by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) – the agency’s equivalent of an FIR – in January last year against alleged mastermind Anwar Dhebar, Raipur mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar. Also booked in the case are retired IAS Anil Tuteja, former joint secretary in Chhattisgarh, ITS Arun Pati Tripathi, former special secretary, Government Commerce and Industry Department and MD; and CG State Marketing Corporation Ltd. Vikas Agarwal, among others.
The Congress has called this harassment of its leaders. Reacting to the raids, Sushil Anand Shukla, the Congress party’s communications head for Chhattisgarh, told The Indian Express: “First ED, then Central Bureau of Investigation and now EOW. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing all this to harass Congress workers and leaders. The only intention behind these raids is to trouble the Congress party”.
Meanwhile, calls to Lakhma’s son Harish for a response went unanswered.
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