Chhattisgarh liquor 'scam': ED attaches assets worth over Rs 1,000 crore, names four more accused

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday that it has attached properties with a combined market value of more than Rs 1,000 crore as part of its probe into the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam.

The ED also said it has filed a fresh prosecution complaint against four additional accused, taking the total number of accused people in the money laundering case to 85.

The federal agency said it issued three provisional attachment orders on May 28 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attaching properties with a deed value of around Rs 200 crore and a combined market value exceeding Rs 1,000 crore.

According to the ED, its investigation found that a liquor syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar and retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, in connivance with senior state officials, distillery owners and private entities, "systematically manipulated the Chhattisgarh excise machinery between 2019 and 2023" to generate proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 2,883 crore.

The agency alleged that the illegal proceeds were generated through "artificial inflation of liquor procurement rates, clandestine manufacture of unaccounted liquor, and extraction of commissions through FL-10A licences granted to favoured entities".

The first attachment order pertains to properties linked to one Vikas Agrawal and Dhebar. The ED alleged that Agrawal "functioned as the ground-level financial manager of the syndicate, collecting commissions from distilleries and FL-10A licensees and routing funds directly to Anwar Dhebar".

The agency said properties standing in the names of Agrawal's family members have been attached as equivalent value of his alleged proceeds of crime. It also attached what it described as Dhebar's benami properties, including plots in Raipur allegedly held through firms and shell entities under his beneficial control. The total attachment under this order is around Rs 30 crore.

In a second attachment order, the ED attached Hotel Westinn Goa in North Goa, owned by Pacifica Hotels India Pvt Ltd.

The investigation, it said, established that the hotel "was acquired entirely out of proceeds of crime" for a consideration of about Rs 110 crore. The agency alleged that the amount "was paid in unaccounted cash sourced from the liquor scam and physically transported at the instance of Chaitanya Baghel".

The third attachment order covers bank accounts, shares and mutual funds of three FL-10A licence-holder companies --“ Om Sai Beverages Pvt Ltd, Dishita Ventures Pvt Ltd and Nexgen Power Engitech Pvt Ltd.

The ED alleged that these firms "were compelled to remit 50-60 per cent of their profits to the syndicate", resulting in transfers aggregating about Rs 51 crore.

The agency has also filed its sixth supplementary prosecution complaint before a special PMLA court in Raipur, naming four fresh accused - Vijay Bhatia, T Bhuneshwar Rao, Probir Sharma, and Nikhil Chandrakar.

Bhatia has been described by the ED as a businessman with "close links to the syndicate" who allegedly held a 52.5 per cent benami stake in Om Sai Beverages, while Sharma is accused of having "physically transported crores of rupees in cash on behalf of the syndicate".

With the filing of the latest complaint, "the total number of accused in the PMLA prosecution has risen to 85", the agency said.