Chhattisgarh liquor “scam”: ex-CM Baghel says the Supreme Court’s decision has exposed the Center and the ED

Senior Congressman Bhupesh Baghel said that the Centre was exposed for utilizing the Enforcement Directorate to pursue opposition parties after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam.

The money laundering case against retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja and his son Yash in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam was overturned by the supreme court on Monday, stating that there were no profits of the crime.

Former chief minister of Chhattisgarh Baghel said in a post on X on Monday that the Constitution, not any political party, should be the focus of organizations such as the ED.

“The Modi government has been exposed, and the ED’s heinous political misuse has been proven.” The Supreme Court’s ruling today has shown that the ED has been working with the BJP to discredit opposition parties by spinning each case as a money laundering case, Baghel said in the article.

He said that just before the 2023 assembly elections, the ED filed a case in the purported liquor scam in order to discredit the outgoing Congress administration and provide the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a political tool.

The former chief minister said the SC verdict proved without any doubt that the BJP was merely propagandising falsehoods.

The public would see that charges filed to discredit the Congress will also be dismissed in a same fashion, he claimed, exposing the BJP-led Center’s plot to discredit its political rivals by abusing democratic institutions.

A PMLA court in Raipur received a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) from the ED in July of last year regarding the alleged liquor scam. The chargesheet claimed that Rs 2,161 crore in corruption money was generated in the alleged ‘liquor scam’ that started in Chhattisgarh in 2019 and that the money should have gone to the state exchequer.

Bhupesh Baghel was the former chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
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The ED said that these goals had been completely subverted by a criminal conspiracy headed by Anil Tuteja and businessman Anwar Dhebar (brother of Congress politician and Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar).

It was said that this syndicate is made up of politicians, excise agency personnel, and top state bureaucrats.

Based on an ED report, the Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau of Chhattisgarh also filed a case early this year against 70 individuals, including leaders of the Congress, and businesses in connection with the alleged booze scam.

Anwar Dhebar and Arvind Singh, a Bhilai Steel Plant employee, were detained by the ACB/EOW last week in relation to the purported fraud.

Bhupesh Baghel was the former chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
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