Chhattisgarh HC rejects bail petition of 3 accused in liquor scam

Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) [India], October 7 (ANI): The Chhattisgarh High Court on Friday rejected the bail application of three accused Anwar Dhebar, Trilok Singh Dhillon and Nitesh Purohit in the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam.

Speaking to ANI, Enforcement Directorate lawyer, Saurabh Pandey said, “An investigation was done by ED in relation to the Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam. We arrested four people during the investigation, in which the prime accused were Anwar Dhebar, Trilok Singh Dhillon, Nitesh Purohit and Arun Tripathi. Their bail application was rejected by the Special Court, Raipur.”

“Although, the Chhattisgarh HC granted Anwar Dhebar, Trilok Singh Dhillon and Nitesh Purohit interim bail. But when the case was scheduled for its final hearing, HC reserved its order. In the hearing on October 6, their bail application was rejected,” the ED lawyer said.

ED is conducting an investigation into the liquor scam between 2019 to 2022 in which money was illegally generated and siphoned off in various corrupt ways. “Part A Commission – Bribe was collected from the distillers per case basis of liquor procured from the distillers by the CSMCL (State body for purchase and sale of liquor), by Part B sale of unaccounted kacha off-the-books Country Liquor. 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”, an official statement said.

The Enforcement Directorate on May 6 arrested Anwar Dhebar, elder brother of Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, and claimed to unearth a liquor scam to the tune of around Rs 2000 crore.

Earlier, ED had frozen Fixed Deposits worth Rs 27.5 Crore from Trilok Singh Dhillon. ED had seized jewellery worth Rs 28 Crore from the house of a Country Liquor Distiller.