The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Thursday (6 July 2024) that it had detained two liquor merchants as part of its money laundering investigation into the Chhattisgarh excise scam that is thought to have produced over Rs 2,100 crore in slush cash. The federal probe agency said in a statement that liquor merchants Arvind Singh and Trilok Singh Dhillon were taken into custody by the Enforcement Department (ED) on 6 July following their detention on 1 July at the central jail in Raipur by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.
Liquor merchants arrested in money laundering case
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW)/Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed a formal complaint in January that included the names of 70 people and businesses, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma and former chief secretary Vivek Dhand. This complaint gave rise to the ED’s money laundering case.
The two liquor sellers were taken into custody following their arrest in the case some time ago by the EOW of the Chhattisgarh Police.
The scandal, whose proceeds of crime have been estimated by the Enforcement Department to be Rs 2,161 crore, is said to have occurred between 2019 and 2022 under the Congress’s rule in the state. The ED has detained several politicians and bureaucrats, including former IAS officer Anil Tuteja.
Trilok Singh Dhillon, a liquor businessman, was allegedly a prime beneficiary of criminal earnings via a classic method of money laundering, according to the central investigative agency. He has deliberately and voluntarily let significant sums of money from criminal activity be laundered through his businesses and bank accounts. He has fraudulently represented the cash received from FL-10A license holders as unsecured loans and retained them as fixed deposits without providing a valid explanation.
“He has also accepted bribes under the pretence of business dealings from significant national liquor suppliers and retained the funds. The ED stated that the underlying business transactions that were displayed turned out to be wholly fraudulent.
Additionally, it stated that Anwar Dhebar, the older brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, had Arvind Singh, the other arrested liquor trader, as his right-hand man and that Singh was an active member of the Chhattisgarh liquor syndicate. Through his associates, Singh allegedly provided the distillers with duplicate holograms, cash, and booze bottles without a bill.
The ED said that Singh earned a portion of the revenue from unreported booze sales in addition to significant proceeds from crime for his role. The agency has attached assets belonging to the defendants, totalling around Rs 205 crore, in connection with this probe.
Arvind Singh and Trilok Singh Dhillon, both accused in the multi-crore scam, were apprehended from Raipur’s central jail on 1 July under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They were subsequently produced before a special PMLA court of Raipur, from where they have been sent to ED’s custody till 6 July. Arvind Singh and Trilok Singh Dhillon were nabbed by the EOW of Chhattisgarh in connection with the case in April this year.
Recent developments in the case
The EOW charged Arun Pati Tripathi, Anwar Dhebar, and other accused parties before a special Raipur court with a 9000-page chargesheet on 1 July. The EOW investigated the matter further, obtained significant evidence, and apprehended and questioned accused Dhebar, Tripathi, former IAS Anil Tuteja, businessman Arvind Singh, and Trilok Singh Dillon.
Notably, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UP STF) recently detained Dhebar and brought him before a Meerut court concerning a First Information Report (FIR) that the UP police had filed last July, as per instructions from the ED’s Raipur-based zonal office.
