The Economic Offences Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) of Chhattisgarh Police on Thursday arrested former Excise officer Samudra Ram Singh here for his involvement in alleged financial irregularities during the earlier BJP regime.
EOW/ACB Superintendent of Police Pankaj Chandra told The Pioneer that Singh, who had a bounty of `10,000 on his head, was caught from his residence at Boriakala in Raipur. He had been at large for a long time.
The court of Special judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Leena Agrawal sent Singh to judicial custody till December 3, Deputy Director (Prosecution) Mithlesh Verma told The Pioneer.
In 2019, Congress leader Nitin Bhansali submitted a 119-page document to the EOW/ACB demanding an investigation into a scam caused due to a nexus between Excise Department officials and certain BJP leaders.
Bhansali pointed out that Singh, posted as OSD in the Revenue Department, was allegedly involved in irregularities totalling Rs 1,400 crore by hobnobbing with liquor contractors, officials and Ministers in the previous BJP government in the state.
He reportedly acted against rules and put local brand liquor in IMFL category and hiked its price. In the process, he earned a commission. To benefit liquor contractors, he kept the rules at bay to give them a profit of 50-60 percent.
Also, liquor contractors took shops which have turnover worth crores of rupees in the name of their employees.
Singh, who was OSD for nine years, resigned after the Congress unseated the BJP in the 2018 Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh.
Later, the EOW/ACB lodged a FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC against Singh.
On May 25, a Raipur court rejected an anticipatory bail plea of Singh and four others including his wife and other family members on charges of allegedly amassing property disproportionate to known sources of income.
Singh and his family were accused of owning three-four houses in Raipur, a house in Bilaspur’s Nehru Nagar locality, two more houses in the city, three houses and land in Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur, about 10 acres of farmhouse in village Binauri Mungeli in Chhattisgarh, a gaushala besides jewellery, two four-wheelers and three two-wheel vehicles, more than 20 bank accounts and about 20 insurance policies.