J'khand liquor case: ED raids residences of IAS officer, other aides

Ranchi, Oct 29 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday morning raided the residences of Jharkhand's senior IAS officer Vinay Chaubey, Joint Secretary of the Excise Department Gajendra Singh, and their close associates in a money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam.

ED teams are also investigating the chartered accountants associated with these officers.

This liquor case was linked to both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Last month, Chhattisgarh's Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed an FIR against seven individuals, including Jharkhand's then Secretary of Excise Department Vinay Chaubey and Joint Secretary Gajendra Singh.

According to the FIR, these officials manipulated Jharkhand's liquor policy, leading to significant losses to the state treasury. Acting on this FIR, the ED initiated its investigation.

The accused include former Chhattisgarh IAS officer Anil Tuteja, businessman Anwar Dhebar, former Managing Director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Arunpati Tripathi, IAS officer and former Chhattisgarh Excise Commissioner Niranjan Das, Arvind Singh, and Noida-based businessman Vidhu Gupta.

The FIR, filed by Vikas Singh, a resident of Argora in Ranchi, claimed that the accused colluded with Jharkhand officials to alter the state's excise policy, enabling liquor supply contracts to be awarded exclusively to syndicate members.

Allegedly, this syndicate sold domestic liquor with fake holograms and made substantial illegal profits by distributing foreign liquor to select companies.

According to the FIR, Chaubey and Gajendra Singh "amended tender rules with support from senior officers", adding specific turnover requirements to "favour" the syndicate, thereby causing extensive financial losses to the Jharkhand government from 2022 to 2023.

Previously, in April 2023, the ED's Raipur unit summoned Chaubey and IAS officer Karan Satyarthi for questioning in connection with the Chhattisgarh liquor scam.

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