Liquor 'scam': Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW arrests retired IAS officer Niranjan Das

Raipur, Sep 18 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing (ACB/EOW) on Thursday arrested a retired IAS officer in an alleged liquor scam, an official said.

Niranjan Das, then commissioner of state excise department, was arrested for his alleged role in assisting the syndicate handling and operating the 'scam', he said. Das will be produced in a local court on Friday, he added.

Das allegedly received undue benefits worth several crore rupees in return for the sale of unaccounted liquor in state-run liquor shops, transfer of officers, manipulation of tender process, cooperation in bringing in a flawed liquor policy and other ways to benefit the syndicate, he said.

According to officials, Das was a Chhattisgarh state cadre officer who was promoted to the Indian Administrative Service. He is the second former IAS officer to be arrested in the case.

As per the Enforcement Directorate, the alleged scam to the tune of more than Rs 2500 crore was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was under the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government. The ED is probing the money laundering part of the scam.

The ACB/EOW had registered an FIR on January 17 last year in the 'liquor scam' and named 70 individuals and companies, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma and former chief secretary Vivek Dhand.

The move came a month after the BJP defeated the Congress government in the 2023 assembly polls.

The EOW/ ACB has so far filed one chargesheet and four supplementary chargesheets in the case and arrested more than a dozen persons.

The ED had said a criminal syndicate operating in Chhattisgarh was extorting illegal commission in the sale of liquor and was also involved in unauthorised sale through government liquor shops.

The ED arrested Chaitanya Baghel, son of former CM Bhupesh Baghel, in July this year, while former minister and Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma was held in January in the case.

Besides, the anti-money laundering agency had also arrested businessman Anwar Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi, among others, as part of their investigations in the case. PTI TKP BNM