ED gets Lakhma's remand, interrogation will continue in liquor scam case

In the much talked about liquor scam case, ED arrested former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma on Wednesday and presented him in the court of Justice Atul Shrivastava. ED sought Lakhma's 14-day remand from the court. After hearing both the sides in the case, Kawasi Lakhma has been sent to 7-day remand. Now he will be presented on 21 January. 

ED had registered FIR on 17 January
On the basis of information received from ED, ACB had registered FIR in this case on 17 January this year. During the investigation, the agency arrested many absconding accused in the case, including former Special Secretary of Excise Department AP Tripathi. He has been arrested, currently he is lodged in Meerut jail of UP. After his arrest, ACB has arrested a big liquor businessman of Bhilai along with some other people.

Their names are included
in the liquor scam case. The names of IAS Niranjan Das, Anil Tuteja, his son Yash Tuteja along with AK Tripathi, Vivek Dhand and the then Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma are included in the AIS. Anwar Dhebar, Arvind Singh, Vijay Bhatia along with more than a dozen officers and employees of the Excise Department are involved in the liquor scam.

ED had applied
It is being told that on the basis of the application of ED, ACB has registered an FIR in the liquor scam. That application was given by ED to ACB and EOW in March 2023. But then there was a Congress government in the state, so FIR was not registered at that time. But now after the change of power, the agency of the state government has registered FIR in these cases. FIR has been registered in both the cases under sections of fraud and corruption.

The agency completed the investigation in record time

. ACB and EOW had registered FIR in January this year in the liquor scam. But the investigation of the case gained momentum after IPS Amresh Mishra became the chief of the agency. Raipur Range IG Mishra was also given the charge of ACB-EOW on March 11. As soon as Mr. Mishra came, the investigation of the case gained momentum and ACB is presenting the challan in the court today in record time. Generally, the charge in ACB-EOW remains pending for a long time.

FIR also registered in Noida
An FIR has also been registered in Noida in the liquor scam case. This FIR has been registered by Noida Police on the complaint of ED. In this, five people including the Secretary and Special Secretary of the Excise Department have been made accused. This FIR has been registered in Kasana police station of Noida under sections 420, 468, 471, 473 and 120B of IPC. In this FIR, ED has told Kasana police of Noida that ED is investigating the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh.

Tender given against the rules
In this investigation, ED has found out that Noida-based M/s Prism Holography Security Films Private Limited was given the tender in an illegal manner. Whereas the company was not even eligible to participate in the tender. Despite this, the company got the tender in connivance with the officers of the Excise Department of Chhattisgarh. It is alleged that the officers of Chhattisgarh took a commission of eight paise per hologram in this case. The name of the MD of the holography company, Vidu Gupta, is also mentioned in the FIR.