Chhattisgarh NAN ‘scam’: CBI books two ex-IAS officers, former AG for influencing probe and trial

Raipur: The CBI has taken over the investigation into a case against two retired IAS officers and Chhattisgarh’s ex-advocate general in connection with the alleged muti-crore Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam, the agency said on Saturday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also registered a case against the trio.

The agency on Friday conducted searches at the premises of the two former public servants – Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla – at two places in Raipur, which led to the recovery of some “incriminating” documents, the agency said.

Tuteja, Shukla and ex-advocate general Satish Chandra Verma, who were in office during the previous Congress government, are accused of influencing the probe and trial in the NAN scam cases, which were also registered against them.

The alleged scam concerns malpractices in NAN, Chhattisgarh’s nodal agency for procuring and distributing food grains under the Public Distribution System.

Last year, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Chhattisgarh police registered an FIR against Tuteja, Shukla, Verma, and the accused persons for allegedly scuttling the probe and trial in the NAN scam case. Subsequently, the state wrote to the Centre recommending a CBI probe.

The CBI has registered a case against the trio after taking over the investigation into the EOW’s FIR, the central agency said in a statement.

Tuteja and Shukla allegedly abused their official position to influence proceedings in the NAN scam case registered against them by the EOW/Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2015 and a money laundering case registered by the ED on the basis of the NAN case (in 2019), said CBI.

As per digital evidence seized by the Income Tax Department, the accused public servants made several attempts to frustrate the proceedings in the two NAN cases, the release said.

The former bureaucrats allegedly provided inappropriate benefits to Verma, then Chhattisgarh Advocate General, to motivate him to perform public duty in an improper manner and secure anticipatory bail for themselves in the cases under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and EOW/ACB, the CBI said.

To seek anticipatory bail, it was alleged, the ex-IAS officers manipulated documents concerning procedural and departmental work of the senior EOW officers, and the reply to be filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court in the NAN case, said the CBI release.

Based on the two NAN scam cases, the I-T department had collected some digital evidence, including WhatsApp chats, against Tuteja and Shukla which suggested that the duo not only made several attempts to derail court proceedings against them, it said.

The two not only tried to frustrate the probe by the ED but also were constantly in touch with bureaucrats and constitutional authorities of the then Chhattisgarh government to influence the ongoing trial against them in a Raipur court in the ACB/EOW's case, the release said.

Shukla, the principal secretary between 2018 and 2020, and Tuteja, a joint secretary between 2019 and 2020, had become influential officers in the Bhupesh Baghel-led government (from 2018 to 2023), CBI said. The two officers had deep interference in the government's operations, policymaking and other works since 2019, it said.

The alleged scam was exposed in February 2015 (when BJP was in power) after ACB/EOW raided 25 premises of NAN (or Civil Supplies Corporation), the nodal agency for ensuring effective operation of the PDS system, and seized unaccounted cash of Rs 3.64 crore.

Many of the rice and salt samples collected during the raid were claimed to be sub-standard and unfit for human consumption. Later, the ACB made 18 people, including Tuteja, Shukla.

In 2019, the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on the FIR and chargesheet filed by the Chhattisgarh's ACB/EOW in the scam. Tuteja and Shukla had served in NAN.

In April last year, Tuteja was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam in Chhattisgarh.