New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma, named in the Chhattisgarh “liquor scam”, of having received “Rs 72 crore in proceeds of crime” over three years when he was excise minister in the state.
Lakhma is a six-time MLA from Konta and was excise minister in the Bhupesh Baghel-led government in Chhattisgarh from 2018 to 2023. Having appeared before the investigating officer at ED’s Raipur zonal office Wednesday, he was arrested later the same day.
A special PMLA court sent him to ED custody till 21 January.
The ED, in its remand application moved before court, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, has accused Lakhma of playing an “integral part” in the liquor syndicate and having “actively assisted” in processes behind the excise policy that is alleged to have caused a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer.
The ED’s case stems from a Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing FIR filed last January, that was based on information shared by the ED with the state investigative agencies. In the FIR, filed under Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Sections 467, 468 and 471, relating to forgery, and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, Lakhma has been booked for allegedly receiving Rs 50 lakh per month from the liquor syndicate run by alleged lynchpin Anwar Dhebar, along with officials of the state and district excise departments.
Responding to the ED’s allegations in its remand application, Lakhma’s counsel Faisal Rizvi said Lakhma was cooperating with the investigating officer and there was no threat of him fleeing the country. “His stand is clear. He said that all these proceedings against him have started only because he speaks for the people of Bastar and against exploitation of natural resources for over-industrialisation of forest areas,” Rizvi told ThePrint.
Lakhma had claimed last month that he was being implicated.
ED’s allegations
In its remand application, ED outlined the alleged corruption in the drafting of Chhattisgarh’s excise policy during the Baghel government into two parts, A and B.
It has alleged that Lakhma, as excise minister of Chhattisgarh, went out of his way to promote sale of country liquor. The agency said that two co-accused in the case—Arvind Singh, said to be a close aide of Dhebar, and Arun Pati Tripathi, then Managing Director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Ltd (CSMCL)—revealed in their statements that Lakhma was paid Rs 50 lakh per month as commission for sale of country liquor.
Further, the ED has alleged that Dhebar, elder brother of former Raipur mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, maximised his political influence and relations with former joint secretary in the state’s commerce department Anil Tuteja and Tripathi to increase the procurement of liquor in exchange for commission from distillery owners.
The agency submitted that this scheme was formulated in such a way that only those firms which agreed to pay commission to the syndicate were allowed to be on the procurement list of the CSMCL while those not offering to pay were sidelined. This was part A.
As part B of the alleged scam, the agency alleged that a parallel system of selling country liquor through government shops was set up and involved the “illegal work of constructing duplicate holograms and selling them separately through government liquor shops”.
According to the ED, this scheme lasted for three years and caused loss to the state exchequer while the syndicate earned hundreds of crores.
“He (Lakhma) behaved as an integral part of the syndicate and actively assisted the syndicate by manoeuvring process and procedures as per their direction. That, as per investigation conducted, Mr Kawasi Lakhma used to hold private meetings with Arun Pati Tripathi and Niranjan Das (then excise secretary). It is a travesty that the excise minister of the state went all out to corrupt the entire system to encourage Part-B liquor sale for his personal gains,” the ED has stated in its remand application.
The agency in its case against Lakhma banked on the statements of Tripathi, who has also claimed that in addition to Rs 50 lakh commission per month, Lakhma was also given Rs 1.5 crore per month by Anwar Dhebar. “In this period (of 36 months), if calculated at Rs 2 crore per month (as per the statements recorded of the accused/suspects), the amount of PoC (proceeds of crime) in hands of Kawasi Lakhma stands at Rs 72 crore,” the ED stated.
The agency further claimed it recovered incriminating documents establishing cash expenses by Lakhma and his aide Jagannath Raju Sahu, president of Sukma Nagar Palika.
According to the probe agency, when Sahu was confronted with the documents of cash expenditure of Lakhma, he revealed that expenses were undertaken for construction of Congress Bhavan and the house of Lakhma’s son in Sukma.
“Mr Kawasi Lakhma was well aware of the irregularities in his department, yet he did nothing to prevent it as he was earning huge amount of proceeds of crime for his role. This is corroborated by the fact that the misdoings of his officers were also accepted by Mr Kawasi Lakhma, who in his statement dated 03.01.2025 claimed that his officers, namely Arun Pati Tripathi and Niranjan Das, used to take advantage of him and used to take his signatures on excise-related documents,” the ED said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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