ED Attaches Assets Of Over Rs 121 Crore In Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Monday that it had attached assets worth more than Rs 121 crore that belong to Anwar Dhebar, the brother of the mayor of Raipur, and IAS officer Anil Tuteja. The duo are among the accused in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case. 

As per reports, the assets of Anwar Dhebar, IAS officer Anil Tuteja, former MD of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Ltd. Arun Pati Tripathi and others have been attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED informed on Monday that the assets include 14 properties of Tuteja worth Rs 8.83 crore, 69 properties of Anwar Dhebar worth Rs 98.78 crore and one asset of Tripathi worth Rs 1.35 crore.

Further attached by the ED was Hotel Vennington Court, which was managed by Anwar Dhebar's business, A Dhebar Buildcon. Additionally, 32 properties owned by Arvind Singh worth Rs. 11.35 crore and assets belonging to Vikash Agarwal alias Subbu worth Rs. 1.54 crore have also been attached. The total value of the attached properties is Rs 121.87 crore as per a PTI report.

It may be recalled that the The ED is looking into a Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam that allegedly involved Chhattisgarh's top politicians and bureaucrats and transpired between 2019 and 2022. The ED has so far detained Anwar Dhebar, Tripathi, and two other people in this matter. Anwar Dhebar is the brother of Congress leader and Raipur mayor Aijaz Dhebar.

The central probe agency had earlier conducted searches at multiple locations in March and recorded the statements of various persons involved in the alleged scam.