Chhattisgarh liquor 'scam': SC ruling has exposed Centre and ED, claims ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel

Raipur: Senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel has claimed the Supreme Court's decision in connection with the alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh had exposed the Centre for using the Enforcement Directorate to target opposition parties.

The apex court on Monday quashed the money laundering case against former IAS officer Anil Tuteja and his son Yash in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam, saying there were no proceeds of the crime.

In a post on X on Monday, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Baghel said the commitment of agencies like the ED should be towards the Constitution and not any political party.

"Shameful political misuse of ED has been proved and the Modi government has been exposed. Today's decision of the Supreme Court has proved that at the behest of BJP, the ED has been conspiring to defame the opposition parties by making every case a case of money laundering," Baghel claimed in the post.

The ED registered a case in the alleged liquor scam just before the 2023 assembly polls to defame the previous Congress government and give a political weapon to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he alleged.

It has become clear from the SC ruling that the BJP was only spreading lies, the former CM claimed.

The conspiracy of the BJP-led Centre to defame its political opponents by misusing democratic institutions has been unearthed and the public will see that cases lodged to defame the Congress will also be quashed in a similar manner, he said.

In July last year, the ED submitted a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) in the alleged liquor scam case in a PMLA court in Raipur in which it claimed Rs 2,161 crore of corruption money was generated in the alleged 'liquor scam' that began in 2019 in Chhattisgarh and the amount should have gone to the state exchequer.

A criminal syndicate led by Anil Tuteja and businessman Anwar Dhebar (brother of Congress leader and Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar) had turned these objectives upside down, the ED claimed.

This syndicate comprises senior bureaucrats of the state, politicians, their associates and officials of the excise department, it had said.

Early this year, Chhattisgarh's Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau also registered a case in the alleged liquor scam against 70 persons, including Congress leaders, and companies based on a report of the ED.

The ACB/EOW last week arrested Anwar Dhebar and Arvind Singh, who was an employee of the Bhilai Steel Plant, in connection with the alleged scam.