Anwar Dhebar, the mastermind behind liquor scam in Chhattisgarh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday that Anwar Dhebar, brother of Raipur Mayor Ajaz Dhebar, is the kingpin of the liquor scam in which a criminal syndicate illegally generated Rs 2000 crore.

Anwar, who is currently under the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was caught while trying to escape from the back door of a hotel in the wee hours of May 6.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that Anwar was the main collection agent and frontman of the syndicate. He was allegedly extorting Rs 75 per case of liquor as commission from liquor businessmen.

The ED said that its investigation has established that in order to decide the quantum of commission on the sale of country liquor, a meeting was called by Anwar in March 2019 which was attended by the liquor businessmen where the distillers were asked to pay Rs 75 per case as commission against its procurement by CSMCL.

In return, Anwar promised to raise their landing rates proportionately. This system was agreed upon and the syndicate started collecting commission on the sale of accounted liquor cases. Each liquor case was purchased by MD CSMCL only, hence all the data was always available and till the commission was not paid, the dues of the distillers were not cleared.

The commission was reportedly shared with a political party by Anwar. Also, this commission was paid by the distillers from the enhanced landing rate received by them.

"This was a pre-planned agreement. Hence, in a way the entire commission of PART-A was sponsored by the Chhattisgarh state exchequer," the ED alleged.

"Anwar is a strongman and one of his brothers is an accused in a murder case being investigated by the CBI. Anwar ran the entire syndicate on the ground as per instructions from the higher authorities," the ED alleged in the remand paper accessed by IANS.

The ED alleged that a criminal syndicate was being operated in Chhattisgarh which indulged in the collection of bribes by controlling government departments.

The ED also alleged that this syndicate comprised senior state government officials, private persons and politicians.

"Anil Tuteja (IAS), Joint Secretary in Department of Industry and Commerce, was managing the affair and was the kingpin of this illegal syndicate along with Anwar Dhebar. They had close proximity to political leaders and were misusing them. They were carrying out systematic extortion and corruption, particularly in the excise department," read the ED's document.

Sources in the ED said that its probe has established that massive corruption was taking place in the excise department and hundreds of crores of rupees in cash were being collected from every possible point of access in a distributed hierarchical manner.

"Multiple individuals were involved in the illegal sale of alcohol in Chhattisgarh. At each stage of the illegal sale, a small percentage of the funds was taken by those involved in that stage as their payment, and the rest of the funds were sent to Anwar Dhebar, the main accused. After keeping his cut, the syndicate passed on the final loot for the benefit of the political executives and for electioneering. This loot has caused massive loss to the state exchequer," the source said.

"Liquor is a state subject and it is the duty of the state government to regulate its demand and supply for the purpose of public health and revenue generation. As per the findings of the IT department, large amounts of bribe were being collected by the criminal syndicate from liquor suppliers. Money was also gathered from other departments," the ED document read. [IANS/NS]