Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam: ED Files Final Chargesheet, 59 More Accused Named

Raipur: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed its final charge sheet in the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam, naming 59 additional accused and taking the total number of people booked in the money laundering case to 81.

ED counsel Saurabh Kumar Pandey said the final charge sheet was submitted before the special PMLA court in Raipur in compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court of India.

According to Pandey, investigations against 22 accused had been completed earlier, and charge sheets were already filed in their cases, with several of them arrested. The latest filing covers 59 more individuals against whom the probe has now concluded. Those named include Soumya Chaurasia, then Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office, former IAS officer Niranjan Das, liquor licence holders, distributors, and officials of the state Excise Department.

Pandey said the charge sheet runs into 315 pages and is supported by around 29,800 pages of documents. The material, he said, includes banking records, documents showing alleged money laundering, backdoor and proxy entries, and digital evidence such as communication records.

The ED has pegged the alleged proceeds of crime at nearly ₹3,000 crore. It has accused Niranjan Das, who served as Excise Commissioner at the time, of facilitating the smooth functioning of the alleged scam by ensuring that no punitive action was taken, allowing it to continue unchecked.

The agency has claimed that the alleged liquor scam operated between 2019 and 2022, during the tenure of the Congress government led by Bhupesh Baghel. According to the ED, the racket caused heavy losses to the state exchequer while benefiting a liquor syndicate.

The probe has also tightened around senior political figures. In January, the ED arrested Congress MLA and former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, and in July, Chaitanya Baghel, the former chief minister’s son. The agency has alleged that Lakhma was the principal recipient of the proceeds of crime, while Chaitanya Baghel played a key role in managing nearly ₹1,000 crore generated by the syndicate.

Businessman Anwar Dhebar was arrested earlier in the case, along with former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service officer Arunpati Tripathi, and several others. Parallelly, the state’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have registered an FIR and are probing the corruption angle.

On December 22, the EOW/ACB filed its seventh supplementary charge sheet against Chaitanya Baghel, alleging that evidence showed he managed the proceeds of crime at senior levels and received a share of around ₹200–250 crore. The state agencies have claimed that the total size of the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam could exceed ₹3,500 crore.