The Chhattisgarh Liquor (Excise Policy) Scam

“Chhattisgarh's state excise policy and liquor distribution system, run through official channels including the state's excise department and Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL), was to operate as a transparent, regulated system for manufacturing, distributing and taxing liquor sales for public revenue.”

— Chhattisgarh Excise Department and Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited, State bodies responsible for regulating and administering liquor excise policy and distribution · 1 January 2019

This reflects the general statutory purpose of the state excise administration rather than a verified quotation from a specific Chhattisgarh excise policy document, which this entry has not reviewed directly.

That Chhattisgarh's liquor manufacturing, distribution and retail system would operate through official, transparent channels with excise duty properly collected and remitted to the state exchequer, free of unofficial commissions or parallel off-the-books sales.

The Chhattisgarh Excise Act and rules, the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

In force from 1 January 2019

The Enforcement Directorate's investigation traces its origins to a 2022 Income Tax Department chargesheet filed against Chhattisgarh IAS officer Anil Tuteja and others; the ED registered its own money-laundering case around November 2022 and, through 2023, conducted raids at some 35 locations across Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Delhi, including the Raipur residence of businessman Anwar Dhebar. The ED alleged that Dhebar and associates built a wide network of officials, politicians and private liquor operators who ran a parallel, unofficial liquor distribution and pricing system alongside the official one, collecting illicit commissions on liquor sales and diverting the proceeds -- which the ED's evolving estimates put at roughly Rs 2,000-2,883 crore accumulated between 2019 and 2022/2023 -- through a network of shell transactions. Numerous arrests followed under PMLA, including Anwar Dhebar, former excise commissioner Niranjan Das, retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, ITS officer and CSMCL MD Arun Pati Tripathi, former deputy secretary in the chief minister's office Saumya Chaurasia, former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, and Chaitanya Baghel, son of former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. Chhattisgarh's own Anti-Corruption Bureau and Economic Offences Wing (ACB/EOW) registered a separate FIR in January 2024, based on a complaint from the ED, naming around 70 individuals including Congress leaders and companies, and later chargesheeted 22 excise officials, who were suspended by the state government. Through 2024 and 2025 the ED provisionally attached assets under PMLA -- including roughly Rs 205 crore in May 2024, later expanding to over Rs 382 crore across more than a thousand properties, plus a further roughly Rs 38 crore tied to excise officials -- and, on 26 December 2025, filed a final/supplementary prosecution complaint before the special PMLA court naming a total of 81 accused (59 newly added), including Chaitanya Baghel and Kawasi Lakhma, and running to roughly 29,800 pages of evidence, with the total scam estimated at up to Rs 3,000 crore in some reports. As of that filing, this entry found no confirmed conviction in the case; all named individuals are presumed innocent pending trial.

As of 26 December 2025

The ED's public estimates of the scam's scale evolved over the investigation, from around Rs 2,000-2,161 crore in earlier statements to Rs 2,883 crore in its December 2025 supplementary prosecution complaint, with some reports citing an overall figure of up to Rs 3,000-3,200 crore including related tender manipulation. Provisional PMLA attachments to date total roughly Rs 420 crore across excise officials' and other accused's properties; these are pre-trial and do not represent a final recovery figure.

1. 1 Nov 2022Announcement
   ED opens money-laundering probe

   The Enforcement Directorate registers a money-laundering case linked to a 2022 Income Tax Department chargesheet against IAS officer Anil Tuteja, marking the start of the ED's Chhattisgarh liquor investigation.

2. 1 Mar 2023Milestone
   ED conducts multi-city raids

   ED searches around 35 locations across Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Delhi, including businessman Anwar Dhebar's Raipur residence, collecting what it describes as evidence of large-scale corruption.

3. 1 Jan 2024Milestone
   Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW registers FIR

   State Anti-Corruption Bureau and Economic Offences Wing register an FIR based on an ED complaint, naming around 70 individuals including Congress leaders and companies.

4. 6 May 2024Status
   ED attaches assets worth Rs 205 crore

   ED provisionally attaches assets valued at over Rs 205 crore in connection with the ongoing investigation.

5. 19 Sept 2025Milestone
   Retired IAS officer arrested

   A retired IAS officer is arrested in connection with the case, as ED continues to build out its prosecution.

6. 26 Dec 2025Milestone
   ED files final/supplementary prosecution complaint

   ED files a supplementary PMLA prosecution complaint naming 81 total accused (59 newly named), including Chaitanya Baghel and Kawasi Lakhma, running to roughly 29,800 pages, alleging Rs 2,883 crore in proceeds of crime.

The case proceeds on two tracks: the Enforcement Directorate's PMLA money-laundering prosecution, culminating in a supplementary prosecution complaint naming 81 accused filed 26 December 2025, and Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW's separate corruption FIR and chargesheet (including against 22 suspended excise officials) registered from January 2024. Multiple individuals, including Anwar Dhebar, Anil Tuteja, Niranjan Das, Arun Pati Tripathi, Saumya Chaurasia, Kawasi Lakhma and Chaitanya Baghel, have been arrested under PMLA at various points. As of this entry's research, no trial verdict or conviction had been confirmed; all named individuals are presumed innocent and entitled to defend the allegations at trial.

• The exact date the ED's Chhattisgarh liquor investigation formally began (as opposed to the approximate November 2022 date used here) has not been precisely confirmed.
• The current stage of the PMLA special court trial following the December 2025 supplementary prosecution complaint, including any framing of charges, has not been confirmed.
• The final, reconciled proceeds-of-crime figure is unclear, with credible reports citing figures from roughly Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,200 crore at different points in the investigation.
• The outcome of the separate Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW chargesheet against the 22 suspended excise officials, and any distinction between that case and the ED's PMLA proceedings, was not fully reconciled in this entry.
• This is explicitly distinct from the separate 'Chhattisgarh coal levy scam,' which involves different allegations regarding coal transportation levies and is covered elsewhere; readers should not conflate the two cases.