A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) court in Raipur remanded Purohit and Dhillon to ED custody for five and four days respectively, the ED said. Anwar Dhebar, elder brother of Raipur mayor and Congress leader Ejaz Dhebar, is the first person arrested by the agency in this case last week.
After the custody period of Anwar Dhebar ended on Wednesday, the investigating agency presented him before the PM court. The court has extended his custody by five days. Anwar’s lawyer Rahul Tyagi said the court has directed the probe agency not to harass Panch in any way. He said the court has also directed the agency to preserve the audio and video recordings of the interrogation to ascertain whether the decades have been coerced or tortured.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday accused the ED of trying to dupe him of liquor. During a conversation with everyone in Raipur, it was said that the ED is working as an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The agency told the court on Wednesday that Purohit had allegedly ‘told about the illegal activities of Anwar Dhebar and assisted Anil Tuteja (an IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre) and another person in the commission of the crime’. The statements said that Purohit was a close associate of Anwar Dhebar and was involved in managing and bringing them to illegal gatherings. ‘He was getting drunk as per the instructions of Anwar Dhebar.’
Dhillon’s role, however, has been said to be through this ‘classic’ model of finding funds through the ‘principal beneficiary’ of the proceeds of crime. The ED has claimed that ‘they willingly and connections allowed their bank accounts and firms to access large amounts of proceeds of crime. They (Dhillon) took bribe from the country liquor major in the guise of commercial transactions and kept the money with them. The graphic looks shown have been found to be completely fake.
Congestions say that ‘unaccounted’ dumping of Rs 52 lakh has been seized in the name of Dhillon’s firms apart from Saved Sagar worth Rs 27.5 crore. ED alleges money was “illegally collected” on “every bottle” of tainted liquor in Chhattisgarh and there is evidence of Rs 2,000 crore corruption and money laundering by Anwar Dhebar’s dirty liquor syndicate Sharp committee has gone.
E.C. has said that it had registered a money laundering case on behalf of the clerical department against Indian Jumping Service (IAS) officer Tuteja and others on the basis of a chargesheet filed in a Delhi court. It is also alleged that state liquor was erroneously consolidated on the basis of per case of liquor taken from CSMCL (state body for purchase and sale of liquor) and country liquor was given off-the-book was going was going The agency has alleged, ‘In this (country liquor) case, not even a single three official messages were sent and the entire sale amount was left in the pocket of the syndicate. Illicit liquor is made only from government shops.
The agency has claimed that ‘bribes’ have been taken from the wrong-doers to make them form a cartel and allow them to dominate the market. “This cartel used to claim (liquor) exclusively for Chhattisgarh,” the ED said, adding that the sale of foreign liquor in the state also fetches “commission”.
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