ED Attaches Congress Bhawan In Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam Case; Claims Ex-Minister Received Rs 2 Cr Monthly

The Enforcement Directorate  (ED) on Friday mentioned that it has connected 3 houses value over Rs six crore underneath the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in reference to the Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam case. The connected houses come with Congress Bhawan in Sukma. The ED additionally claimed that Kawasi Lakhma, the then Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh was once receiving Rs 2 crore per thirty days out of liquor rip-off.

“Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Raipur Zonal Office, has provisionally attached three immovable properties worth Rs 6.15 Crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam case. In terms of the investigation, following buildings have been found to be constructed out of Proceeds of Crime (POC) and have therefore been attached: Congress Bhawan, Sukma, in the name of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee; a residential house at Raipur in the name of Kawasi Lakhma; and a residential house at Sukma in the name of Harish Kawasi (son of Kawasi Lakhma),” mentioned the ED.

The ED mentioned that it initiated an investigation in keeping with an FIR registered by means of ACB/EOW Chhattisgarh underneath quite a lot of sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 within the subject of the Liquor rip-off in Chhattisgarh.

“ED investigation revealed that Kawasi Lakhma, the then Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh was receiving Rs 2 Crore per month out of liquor scam and thereby received POC Rs 72 Crore in 36 months. Investigation conducted led to seizure of crucial pieces of evidences which demonstrated utilization of cash by Kawasi Lakhmain construction of properties mentioned above. Cash worth Rs 68 Lakhs was employed in the construction of Congress Bhawan, Sukma; Rs 1.40 Crore was utilized in the construction of the house of Harish Lakhma and Rs 2.24 Crore was utilized in the construction of his own house at Raipur. Kawasi Lakhma is presently under judicial custody,” mentioned the probe company.

The ED mentioned that it had previous connected houses value Rs 205 cr within the case. “It is pertinent to mention here that the said attachment is in continuation to the previous attachment of immovable properties having a value of nearly Rs 205 Crore,” it mentioned.

It additional mentioned that the investigation printed corruption within the liquor rip-off which ran between 2019 to 2022 ended in large loss to the State Exchequer and era of greater than Rs 2,161 Crore value of POC by means of fee of predicate offences.