ED whiffs Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam, main accused apprehended

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Sunday that evidence of “unprecedented” corruption and money laundering of Rs 2,000 crore has been collected in connection with the sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh. According to the ED, money was “illegally” collected on “every bottle” of liquor sold in the state, and an alcohol syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, is responsible for the corruption.
Anwar Debhar was arrested by the federal agency under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the early hours of Saturday from a hotel in Raipur while he was trying “to run from the back door”, it said in a statement.
He was remanded in four-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody by a special PMLA court even as his lawyer said the arrest seemed to be “politically motivated” and that they would move the Supreme Court.
The agency said Anwar Dhebar did not join the probe in the case despite being summoned seven times and charged that he was “continuously using benami SIM cards and internet dongles, and was changing locations”.
When he was zeroed in at the Raipur hotel, he tried to run away from the back door instead of accepting the summons but was subsequently caught by the ED team, it said.
Aijaz Dhebar is known to be an influential leader of the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh.
“Investigation found that an organised criminal syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar was operating in Chhattisgarh. Anwar Dhebar, though a private citizen, was backed by and was working for illegal gratification of high-level political executives and senior bureaucrats.
“He weaved an elaborate conspiracy and stitched a wide network of persons/entities to execute the scam so that money was illegally collected from every bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh,” the ED alleged.
It said raids were conducted at 35 locations in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Delhi, including the residential premises of Anwar Dhebar at Raipur, in March and this led to the collection of “evidence of unprecedented corruption and money laundering to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore between 2019-2022”. Anwar Dhebar, the ED alleged, was responsible for the “collection of this entire illegal money but is not the ultimate beneficiary of this scam”.