Chhattisgarh HC junks petitions seeking quashing of ECIRs, FIRs in liquor scam

Bilaspur, Aug 20 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh High Court on Tuesday dismissed 13 petitions filed by the accused in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam challenging the cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the state's Anti Corruption Bureau/ Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal had completed the hearing on the petitions on July 10. The ruling was pronounced on Tuesday, additional advocate general Vivek Sharma said.

Retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, businessman Anwar Debhar, former managing director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited Arunpati Tripathi, IAS officer and former excise commissioner Niranjan Das, Noida-based businessman Vidhu Gupta and other accused in the liquor scam case had filed separate petitions seeking to quash ECIR lodged by the ED and FIR by ACB/EOW, he said.

The HC dismissed all the petitions. The previous orders of interim relief granted to the petitioners also stood cancelled, additional AG Sharma said.

"From perusal of the FIR and the ECIR in question, it cannot be said that no prima facie offence whatsoever is disclosed against the petitioners. Moreover, the material collected during the investigation goes to show that the nature of offences committed by the accused/ petitioners has caused huge financial loss to the state exchequer and the estimated proceeds of crime is of around Rs 2,161 crore," said the high court. PTI COR TKP KRK