ED arrests IAS officer Niranjan Das alleging central role in racket
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested IAS officer Niranjan Das in connection with the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam, claiming he received proceeds of crime worth about Rs 18 crore and played a “central role” in facilitating the racket, an official statement said on Tuesday. Das was arrested by the ED’s Raipur Zonal Office on December 19 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The money laundering probe was initiated based on an FIR registered by the State Anti-Corruption Bureau/ Economic Offences Wing (ACB/EOW) under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the ED, the investigation has revealed that the alleged scam caused a massive loss to the State exchequer and generated more than Rs 2,500 crore in proceeds of crime.
The agency claimed evidence in the form of digital records, seized documents, and statements shows that Das was an “active accomplice” of a liquor syndicate. It alleged that he was given an additional charge as Excise Commissioner and Secretary, Excise Department, “solely to facilitate” the commission of the scam.
“As Excise Commissioner, he forsook his statutory duties, facilitated the loot of Government revenues and allowed the syndicate to operate unchecked in exchange for a monthly payment of Rs 50 lakh,” the ED alleged, adding that Das directed field officers to increase the sale of unaccounted illicit liquor in their jurisdictions.
Besides Das, the ED has arrested several others in the case, including former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Arvind Singh, Trilok Singh Dhillon, Anwar Dhebar, Indian Telecom Service officer Arunpati Tripathi, former Chhattisgarh excise minister and MLA Kawasi Lakhma, Chaitanya Baghel, son of former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, and Soumya Chaurasia.
Meanwhile, the ACB/EOW has claimed in its latest supplementary chargesheet that Chaitanya Baghel received Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore as his share from the alleged scam.
The agency said the chargesheet, running into around 3,800 pages, names him as an accused in the case pegged at over Rs 3,000 crore and details his alleged role in coordinating officials and operatives of the syndicate.
It is alleged that proceeds were routed through firms linked to liquor businessman Trilok Singh Dhillon and invested in real estate projects. The agency claimed the overall proceeds of crime could exceed Rs 3,500 crore.
The ED, which is probing the money laundering angle, has alleged that money was illegally collected from every bottle of liquor sold in the State between 2019 and 2022, when the Congress Government was in power. The EOW/ACB registered an FIR in January 2024, naming 70 individuals and companies.
