The PMLA court of Raipur has recently sent Anwar Dhebar and Nitesh Purohit to 14-day judicial custody in connection with an alleged liquor scam.
Anwar Dhebar is the brother of Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar and Raipur mayor.
ED’s lawyer Saurabh Pandey stated that Anwar Dhebar, Nitesh Purohit, Arun Pati Tripathi, and Trilok Singh Dhillon were produced in the Special PMLA court, Raipur as their custody ended on Friday.
He added that the court has sent Anwar Dhebar and Nitesh Purohit to 14 days of judicial custody while the ED custody of Arun Pati Tripathi and Trilok Singh Dhillon was extended till May 23.
In a release issued by the ED after the arrest of Anwar Dhebar, the agency stated that it conducted searches at multiple locations in March and has recorded the statements of various persons involved in a process that collected evidence of unprecedented corruption in money laundering to the tune of Rs 2000 crore between 2019 & 2022.
Therefore, the PMLA investigation revealed that an organized crime mob led by Anwar Dhebar was operating in Chhattisgarh.
Anwar Dhebar in conspiracy with the others started getting manufacturing unaccounted country-made kacha off-the-books liquor and selling the same through government-run shops. The statement stated that, this way they could keep the absolute sale proceeds without depositing even 1 Rupee in the State Exchequer.
Notably, Tripathi is an officer of the Indian Telecom Service and posted here on deputation as a special secretary of the excise department and head of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited.
The liquor scam is divided into 3 parts. Part ‘A’ deals with giving a selective license to liquor manufacturers and collecting profit while other parts are about commission collection and distribution as well as about how to collect commission from the liquor shops.
