RAIPUR: The Raipur Regional Office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 38.21 crore belonging to a former IAS officer, Niranjan Das and 30 other excise officials.
The move is in connection with the ongoing probe linked to the Chhattisgarh liquor scam.
The central probe agency, in a statement posted on its official X account, said that the action has been taken in pursuance of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002).
“It includes 78 immovable properties consisting of luxurious bungalows, flats in premium complexes, commercial shops and agricultural lands. Additionally, 197 movable properties, including high-value fixed deposits (FDs), balances in multiple bank accounts, life insurance policies and a diverse portfolio of equity shares and mutual funds”, the ED further stated.
According to the ED, the liquor scam resulted in a loss to the state exchequer of over Rs 2800 crore (revised calculation based on further disclosures).
The ED, in its supplementary prosecution complaint filed in relation to the investigation into the liquor scam, carries a detailed exposition described as a “massive corruption” in the state Excise Department between 2019 and 2023, and that it allegedly resulted in the generation of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 2883 crore.
The probe Agency has named 81 individuals as accused in its final prosecution complaint presented before the special PMLA court in Raipur on December 27, last year.
The ED had earlier claimed that the excise department had played a major role in acquiring funds for a political party during the 2023 Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.
Around two dozen individuals have been arrested so far in connection with the case.
Key individuals among them are former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, a six-time Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma, former deputy secretary to the chief minister's office Soumya Chaurasia, retired IAS Niranjan Das (then Excise commissioner), special secretary Excise department Arun Pati Tripathi and businessman Anwar Dhebar.