Niranjan Das, a 62-year-old retired IAS officer from Chhattisgarh was arrested on Thursday by the state's Economic Offences Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) for allegedly facilitating a Rs 3,200-crore liquor scam.
Das, who had been posted as Excise Commissioner, was an officer of the state civil service and was eventually promoted to IAS, before retiring over a year ago.
“We will be producing him before a court on Friday,” said Inspector General of Police, Raipur range, Amresh Mishra.
The liquor scam is alleged to have taken place between 2019 and 2022, during the Bhupesh Bhaghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh. It is alleged that a syndicate of senior state bureaucrats, politicians, and Excise Department officials facilitated illegal sale of liquor to the public, causing a loss of around Rs 3,200 crore to the state exchequer.
An EOW/ACB statement said, “Mr Niranjan Das is accused of assisting a syndicate active in the department, including the sale of unaccounted liquor in government liquor shops, the transfer of officials, manipulation of the tender process, cooperation in implementing a flawed liquor policy, and other means, thereby benefiting the syndicate and thereby receiving undue benefits worth crores of rupees.”
An FIR was registered by the EOW/ACB last year to investigate the criminal aspect of the alleged scam, while a parallel probe by the Enforcement Directorate is underway for probing the money laundering aspect. The ED recently filed a prosecution complaint against Bhupesh Baghel's son Chaitanya Baghel in connection with its case.
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