Money laundering cases are as common as we do laundry at home. This seems to be the season when the ones in question have not been able to digest the over-washed laundry items. While you are busy fixing up old clothes and unwanted stuff under your bed and top cabinets, there is a clan of biggies who are busy storing money in their bed, flush tank and many other odd places. The fun part is that the ones who are under the radar are politicians, civil servants or business people close to the mentioned two. Those who have been questioned are projected as if they are the most humble people and can survive with basics while their lifestyle does not say so. However, the ones who manipulate the system are not expected to speak the truth anyway.
Anil Tuteja, an IAS officer who was mentioned in the NAN scandal and protected by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was discovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 6 May to be directly involved in a Rs 2,000 crore liquor fraud. Currently, Tuteja is the Department of Industry and Commerce in Chhattisgarh’s joint secretary position. In its request for remand of Anwar Dhebar, the ED claimed that an illegal liquor syndicate operating in the state had produced more than Rs 2,000 crores in corruption money. The investigation agency said in court that funds obtained through unethical ways were used for electoral purposes. ED’s investigation revealed that between 2019 and 2022, the gang ordered the sale of unreported illicit alcohol accounting for 30–40% of the state’s total alcohol sales. Anwar Dhebar, the brother of Raipur’s Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, was the head of the syndicate, and all the money went to Anwar after a certain percentage was deducted from the fraud’s proceeds. Anil Tuteja managed the money obtained through the scam.
In its application, ED stated that it had obtained the Prosecution Complaint submitted by the IT Department as well as any digital and paper records found during search operations against Tuteja and others in the money laundering case. The investigating agency discovered there was a syndicate working to collect bribes by manipulating the high-level management of significant State departments and SPSUs based on the ED’s study of the data. ED added that Dhebar was the head of the syndicate while Tuteja oversaw operations. They grew the syndicate throughout the state, especially in the excise department, by using their political ties. According to ED, they amassed hundreds of crores in cash from “every possible point of access in a distributed hierarchical manner.”
A little portion of the proceeds would be kept by the con artists, who would send the remainder to Dhebar. The syndicate would also allegedly take their part and send the money for the “benefit of the Political executives and electioneering.” In its complaint, ED claimed that the theft “caused a massive loss to the State Exchequer and loss of central government taxes and in general loot from the local business community.”When ED mentioned Dhebar’s family history, he made note of the fact that he is the brother of Raipur’s mayor, who is the subject of a CBI murder inquiry. According to reports, Dhebar was managing the syndicate at the direction of his political bosses. According to ED, the department discovered the gang was taking a sizable quantity of bribes from spirits suppliers during the inquiry. They also obtained bribes from other agencies, such as the PWD Department and the Food Horticulture Department. The recoverable messages from the confiscated devices, according to ED, demonstrated how deeply ingrained the syndicate was in several governmental departments. “It was discovered that the corruption was systemic and so deeply ingrained with numerous associates in different State Departments, that the accused persons and syndicate were forced to maintain detailed logs and accounts of the collected money lest there may be pilferage from the crime money itself,” the ED stated.
The authorities would post information on WhatsApp each day in the form of thorough logs and reports of the money they had collected. Hey, we keep Excel Sheets to monitor illegal cash flow. They also discovered digital proof showing that Dhebar gave Tuteja 14.41 crores of rupees. The syndicate was divided into three sections. Part A listed the commission that alcohol distributors charge for selling alcohol within the state. Part B described the illegal sale of unreported rural spirits from Sinte-run businesses. ED pointed out that several parties were involved in the sale, including transporters, district excise officers, hologram and bottle producers, and distillers. The annual commission gathered from the distillers operating companies in the state was shown in Part C.
The state’s newly established Excise Department was established primarily to control alcohol distribution and ensure that adequate precautions were taken by the administration to avoid tragic alcohol-related incidents. Additionally, the state would have received income from it. Dhebar, on the other hand, completely upended the department, for Anwar and the other participants’ gain. The excise department officers, legislators, and top state bureaucrats were all members of the syndicate, according to ED. Arunpati Tripathi, an ITS officer, began working for the state-run Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) in February 2019. At Dhebar’s request, Tripathi was appointed the organization’s managing director within three months. He was hired to increase the amount of bribes collected. Further, IAS officers were participating. Involved IAS officers Vikas Agarwal and Arvind Singh were in charge of logistics and money collection, respectively.
Agarwal’s associate’s business, Sumcet Facilities Ltd, supplied labour for the syndicate. The Prizm Holography and Films Securities Pvt Ltd. won the hologram contract. Cash collection was delegated to Tops Securities, which is run by Siddhartha Singhania, an Agarwal close friend. ED reported that Dhebar and Tripathi were introduced to the producers of country spirits Chhattisgarh Distilleries Limited, Bhatia Wines Merchants Private Limited, and Welcome Distilleries Private Limited in March 2019. The distillers were mandated to pay a commission of Rs 75 for each case. Dhebar agreed to do so in exchange for an increase in their loan rates. The syndicate received a sizable commission, and since CSMCL bought the alcohol, information was available. A significant portion of the commission Dhebar received, according to ED, was given to a political party.
The syndicate also began producing kacha spirits without proper documentation. As part of the plot, the syndicate chose to sell unreported country booze. At state-run stores, it was for sale. They made the holograms appear to be original by using duplicates. Duplicate bottles were purchased for cash and given to a distiller who would fill them with illegal alcohol and transport it while avoiding state-owned warehouses.
Dhebar established monthly goals. He would speak with the CSMCL MD directly or via Arvind Singh. Senior excise officers would work with suppliers like distillers, hologram producers, bottlers, and transporters to collaborate. The distillers supplied 800 cases of rural booze per month in 200 trucks.
The cost of the alcohol was Rs 560 per case. The MRP per case was Rs 2,880. It was raised over time to Rs 3,880 annually. Since there was a demand for foreign liquor and it was difficult to obtain money from foreign liquor producers, Fl-10A licences were introduced. The licence was granted to three of Dhebar’s recognised friends. These licence holders served as collectors or middlemen to purchase foreign alcohol, sell it to state-owned warehouses, and earn a commission of roughly 10% from the producers of that alcohol.
According to the ED, “Investigation has established that more than Rs 2000 Crore of corruption money has been generated by this syndicate.” Dhebar was additionally charged by ED with being in charge of obtaining every rupee of these earnings from the crime.
He wasn’t home when the ED searched Dhebar’s home on March 29, 2023. He was called by ED several times, but he declined to participate. He had a hidden trap door at his home, which he utilised to flee when the ED team knocked on his door, as ED learned during the inquiry. Even his family members were unhelpful and dissented from signing the search Panchnama. They attempted to mob the ED’s search team by making many calls to their followers. Dhebar was the syndicate’s leader, but ED pointed out that he was not its main profit-maker. He is merely a private person and does not have any official positions, according to ED. He was willing to use his connections to the mayor of Raipur and the ruling political party to influence the bureaucracy in his favour. The entire Excise Machinery was under his control. This demonstrates unequivocally that he derived his authority from state politicians.
The BJP-led Chhattisgarh government, then led by then-CM Raman Singh, discovered the NAN (Nagrik Apurti Nigam or Public Distribution Corporation scandal) scam in 2015 while looking into claims made by Congress. Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla are the main suspects in the case, which has 27 people in custody. The Anti-Corruption Bureau issued a Chargesheet in 2015, but after Congress took office, Tuteja’s situation altered. The Baghel-led Congress administration established an SIT in response to Tuteja’s claims that the probe was biased. Since then, Baghel has been attempting to personally discredit Tuteja and link Raman Singh to the fraud. Tuteja was appointed joint secretary of trade and industries by the Baghel government in 2020, not long after he had been granted bail in the case. Shukla, on the other hand, was appointed principal secretary and in charge of the departments of education and other things.
We looked into Tuteja’s WhatsApp conversations that the IT team had collected during our inquiry. The talks unequivocally show that Anil Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja are abusing, misusing, and mutilating the whole criminal justice delivery system in the State.
The Chief Minister was attempting to implicate former Chief Minister Raman Singh and his family, former Principle Secretary Aman Singh and his wife Yasmeen Singh, former DG (Police) Mukesh Gupta, Ashok Chaturvedi, and Chintamani Chandrakar in addition to helping Tuteja, it was further revealed that there was a “hit list” against political opponents. It was discovered that several authorities were dancing to Tuteja songs. Even the slightest things, like getting their spouses gym memberships, were dependent on Tuteja for them. The discussions also reveal that Tuteja was leading the NAN probe, where he was the main suspect, and planning the promotion of IPS officers and other benefits given to individuals who were prepared to take part in these evil plans. Additionally, those who disobeyed received penalty postings or, worse yet, were falsely accused themselves. It was claimed that there was a Hawala nexus in the arguments of Income Tax made to the court against Tuteja and others. Although the NAN fraud is complex, what is even more complex is the lengths to which the Bhupesh Baghel government appears to have gone to not only protect the principal offenders but also to link Raman Singh and other individuals to the scam.
The next time you do laundry, remember it’s a big thing. Of course, whether you go to your dry cabinet or jail depends on what you are dealing with, clothes or money. After all this laundry business, our country actually needs a pest control from these worms who loot the tax payers and our future.
