Chhattisgarh liquor 'scam': Fourth supplementary chargesheet filed; EOW pegs amount at Rs 3,200 crore

Raipur: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Chhattisgarh on Monday filed its fourth supplementary chargesheet in the alleged liquor scam that took place during the previous Congress regime, naming 29 excise officials as accused, seven of whom have retired.

The chargesheet was filed before a special court in Raipur, an EOW statement said.

"On the basis of previous calculations, this liquor scam was believed to be around Rs 2161 crore, including all types of commissions and sale of additional country liquor without duty paid in the shops. However, the fresh investigation revealed the alleged scam was worth more than Rs 3200 crore," it said.

The 29 excise officials include district and assistant district excise officers, assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners of excise who were posted between 2019 and 2023 in 15 districts where unaccounted duty paid liquor was sold parallel to duty paid liquor from government liquor shops, the EOW said.

Some officers used to coordinate at the state level for this illegal liquor sale from the 15 districts, excluding those in Bastar and Surguja divisions where consumption of country-made liquor was high, it said.

"Then, additional consignment of liquor was manufactured in distilleries, loaded in trucks and sent directly to these government run country made liquor shops as per the instructions of the 'Excise Syndicate'. This liquor brought on the basis of demand from the warehouse/government depot from the distillery, without paying any government fee/duty, was sold parallel to the legal liquor," it said.

The salesmen, supervisors, lower level excise officials, shop in-charge officials and district in-charge excise officials were involved in the entire process, it said, adding this kind of liquor was called 'B-part liquor'.

The sale amount of this liquor was collected separately and handed over to the syndicate via the district in-charge excise official at the district level, it said.

On the basis of statements and digital evidence of about 200 people, it has been found that 60,50,950 boxes of country liquor worth Rs 2,174 crores were sold in government liquor shops at the behest of the accused officers, a certain part of which was received by the officers/employees posted in the district as well as the salesmen and supervisors of the shop, it said.

A detailed analysis of the commission taken by the syndicate on foreign liquor is being done separately by EOW/ACB.

With this supplementary chargesheet, the state's agency has filed five chargesheets, including four supplementary ones, and arrested 13 persons. They include Congress MLA and former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma Anil Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, Arunpati Tripathi, Vijay Bhatia.

The alleged liquor scam in the state, as per the Enforcement Directorate, 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.