New Delhi [India], January 15 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested former Chhattisgarh Excise Minister and Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma in an alleged liquor scam estimated to be around Rs 2,161 crore.
Lakhma is accused of receiving a substantial amount in cash on a monthly basis out of proceeds of crime generated from the alleged liquor scam. He is the sixth person arrested in this case.
As per the agency, Lakhma was the main recipient of proceeds of crime in cash during his regime as excise minister.
ED investigation in the liquor scam, which ran between 2019 to 2022, revealed that proceeds of crime was generated as illegal commission which was generated in multiple ways.
The agency has said that bribe was collected from the distillers per ‘case’ of liquor procured from them by the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL), a state body for the purchase and sale of liquor.
Sale of unaccounted “kacha off-the-books” country liquor was another way to generate illegal money, the agency had said earlier, adding “In this case, not even a single rupee reached the State Exchequer, and all the sale proceeds were pocketed by the syndicate. The illegal liquor was sold from state-run shops only,”
“Bribes taken from distillers to allow them to make a cartel and have fixed market share, and holders who were introduced to earn in foreign liquor segment also,” the ED had informed.
The ED Raipur unit in December last year had also conducted search operations at seven premises situated in Raipur, Dhamtari and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the liquor scam case. In the search operation conducted on December 28, ED raided the residential premises of Kawasi Lakhma, a six-time Congress MLA. The searches were also conducted at the residential premises of his son Harish Lakhma and their close associates.
As a result of the search operation, ED had said, it gathered evidence pertaining to the utilization of proceeds of crime in cash by Kawasi Lakhma during the relevant period of the scam.
Further, the search also led to the recovery and seizure of multiple digital devices believed to be containing incriminating records.
ED investigation had earlier revealed that the liquor syndicate, comprising Anwar Dhebar, Anil Tuteja and others, was operating in Chhattisgarh.
In this case, one attachment order attaching properties worth Rs 205 crore has already been issued. A Prosecution Complaint along with two supplementary chargesheets has already been filed wherein cognizance was taken by the special PMLA court in Raipur. (ANI)
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