J’khand liquor case: ED conducts raids on IAS officer and associates

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched raids on Tuesday morning at the residences of senior Jharkhand IAS officer Vinay Chaubey, Joint Secretary of the Excise Department Gajendra Singh, and several close associates as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged liquor scam.

ED teams are also looking into the chartered accountants associated with these officials.

This liquor case spans both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Last month, Chhattisgarh’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed an FIR against seven individuals, including Chaubey and Singh, accusing them of manipulating Jharkhand’s liquor policy, which resulted in significant losses to the state treasury. The ED began its investigation based on this FIR.

The accused individuals include former Chhattisgarh IAS officer Anil Tuteja, businessman Anwar Dhebar, former Managing Director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Arunpati Tripathi, former Chhattisgarh Excise Commissioner Niranjan Das, Arvind Singh, and Noida-based businessman Vidhu Gupta.

The FIR, lodged by Vikas Singh from Argora in Ranchi, alleges that the accused colluded with Jharkhand officials to revise the state’s excise policy, enabling the awarding of liquor supply contracts exclusively to syndicate members. The syndicate reportedly sold domestic liquor with fake holograms and generated significant illegal profits by distributing foreign liquor to select companies.

According to the FIR, Chaubey and Gajendra Singh “amended tender rules with support from senior officers,” introducing specific turnover requirements that favored the syndicate, resulting in extensive financial losses to the Jharkhand government from 2022 to 2023.

Earlier, in April 2023, the ED’s Raipur unit had summoned Chaubey and IAS officer Karan Satyarthi for questioning in connection with the Chhattisgarh liquor scam.