Chhattisgarh EOW takes custody of 2 Jharkhand businessmen wanted in 'liquor scam'

Raipur, Aug 28 (PTI) Two liquor businessmen from Jharkhand were taken into custody by the Chhattisgarh police's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) in connection with an alleged liquor scam in the central state, an agency official said on Thursday.

The duo, Atul Singh and Mukesh Manchanda -- who were lodged in a jail in the neighbouring state - are being brought to Raipur on a production warrant obtained from a Jharkhand court, he said.

Singh and Manchanda, directors of foreign liquor licensee firm Om Sai Beverage, are accused of extorting commission on alcohol trade as a part of the scam perpetrated in Chhattisgarh, the official said.

The duo was already arrested and imprisoned in a Ranchi jail in connection with a similar liquor 'scam' case in Jharkhand.

"After obtaining a production warrant from the Jharkhand court, the two are being brought to Raipur. They will be produced in the special Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing (ACB/EOW) court here on Friday," he said.

The alleged liquor scam in the state, as per the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been probing the money laundering part in it, was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was ruled by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.

The central agency has alleged the scam resulted in a "massive loss" to the state exchequer and filled the pockets of beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate with over Rs 2,100 crore.

The ED in January arrested former minister and Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma besides businessman Anwar Dhebar, ex-IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi and some other individuals as part of their investigation in the money laundering case.

The state's EOW registered an FIR in the matter on January 17 last year, about a month after the BJP defeated the ruling Congress in the 2023 assembly polls, and named 70 individuals and companies, including Lakhma and former chief secretary Vivek Dhand, in the alleged scam.

So far, the EOW has filed six chargesheets in a special court in Raipur in the case. PTI COR TKP RSY