Chhattisgarh liquor scam: Ex-CMO deputy secretary Chaurasia arrested; in 2-day ED custody

Raipur, Dec 17 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Soumya Chaurasia, a suspended state administrative service officer who was deputy secretary in the CMO during the previous Congress government, in connection with an alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh.

Chaurasia was arrested on late Tuesday evening and on Wednesday produced before a special court in Raipur which sent her to the ED's custody for two days, the central probe agency's counsel, Saurabh Kumar Pande, told PTI.

In its plea, the ED, probing money laundering angle in the alleged scam, sought three-day custody of the senior bureaucrat for interrogation, he said.

However, the court granted her custodial remand for two days to the ED and she will be produced in the court on Friday (December 19), the counsel said.

Investigations by the ED unearthed Chaurasia's alleged involvement in the scam. She allegedly received proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 115 crore generated out of the scam, he said.

The state administrative service officer served as deputy secretary in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) during Bhupesh Baghel's tenure as CM (2018-23).

She is also an accused in the alleged coal levy scam and was arrested in 2022. She was released from jail earlier this year after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in May.

Chaurasia's counsel Harshwardhan Parganiha claimed the ED action against his client was "polluted and illegal".

The action has been taken based on the statement of one Laxaminarayan Bansal, against whom an arrest warrant had already been issued in the same case, but he is not being arrested, he said.

In the liquor scam case, the ED arrested Congress MLA and former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma on January 15 this year, and Chaitanya, son of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, on July 18, as part of its money-laundering investigation.

The ED has alleged that Lakhma, 71, was the main recipient of the proceeds of crime, receiving large amounts of cash during his tenure as excise minister.

It further claimed that Chaitanya Baghel was at the helm of the syndicate behind the alleged liquor scam and personally handled nearly Rs 1,000 crore generated from the scandal.

According to the ED, the alleged scam was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 during the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government, resulting in a loss of more than Rs 2,500 crore to the state exchequer and illegal gains for members of the liquor syndicate.

The state's Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing has been probing the corruption angle in the alleged scam. PTI TKP GK RSY