In this case, the ED, in January, arrested former minister and Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma, besides Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi and some others as part of this investigation.The alleged liquor scam in the central Indian state, as per the ED, was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was governed by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.Assets worth about Rs 205 crore of various accused have been attached by the agency as part of this investigation so far.In 2024, the Supreme Court quashed the ED’s first ECIR (FIR) in this case, which was based on a complaint from the Income Tax Department.The federal agency later filed a fresh case after it asked the Chhattisgarh EOW/ACB to file a fresh FIR against the accused based on material shared by the anti-money laundering agency.The EOW/ACB registered the FIR on January 17 last year, about a month after the BJP defeated the incumbent Congress government in the 2023 assembly polls, and named 70 individuals and companies, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, former chief secretary Vivek Dhand and others.According to the ED, the alleged commission generated through the illegal sale of liquor was shared “as per the directions from the highest political executives of the state.”
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