Liquor 'scam': Raipur mayor's brother held by Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW

He was granted interim bail in October 2023 by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case.

The elder brother of Raipur's Congress mayor Aijaz Dhebar was arrested by the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau /Economic Offences Wing in connection with the alleged liquor scam.

Businessman Anwar Dhebar was held on Thursday evening and was remanded in ACB/EOW custody till April 8 by special judge Nidhi Sharma, said Deputy Director (Prosecution) Mithlesh Verma.

The special judge asked the ACB/EOW to follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court during the course of custody, he added.

It is the second arrest in the case by ACB/EOW after Arvind Singh. As many as 70 persons, including several leaders of the Congress and companies, were named in the FIR registered by the ACB/EOW in January 2024 in the alleged liquor scam.

The FIR, based on a report by the Enforcement Directorate which has also been probing the case, was lodged under Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.

The ED, in its report to the ACB/EOW, had claimed criminal acts were committed by certain senior officials in connivance with private and influential persons to cause loss to the state and earn illegal profits for themselves in the liquor trade.

The ED had said its probe revealed a criminal syndicate was operating in Chhattisgarh, which was extorting illegal commission in the sale of liquor and was also involved in unauthorised sale through government liquor shops.

In July last year, the ED submitted a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) in a PMLA court in Raipur in which it claimed Rs 2161 crore of corruption money was generated in the alleged 'liquor scam' that began in 2019 in Chhattisgarh (when Congress was power in the state).

This syndicate comprises senior bureaucrats, politicians, their associates and officials of the excise department. as per the ED.

Dhebar was arrested by the ED in the case in May last year. He was granted interim bail in October 2023 by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)