ACB files FIR against former CSMCL official, says he took 8% cut to clear bills

The case was registered on October 5 following a complaint by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the Chhattisgarh police

RAIPUR: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a case against 10 persons including the former deputy general manager of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) on charges that the official collected bribes from a firm contracted to supply manpower for liquor shops to clear their bills, ACB officials said on Wednesday.

The case was registered against 10 persons including the former CSMCL DGM (Photo:CSMCL)

“A case was registered on October 5 based on a complaint sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the Chhattisgarh director general of police,” a senior ACB officer said on the condition of anonymity.

The official said Navin Pratap Singh Tomar was earlier deputy general manager and in-charge managing director of CSMCL, the state-run firm that has a monopoly over the retail sale of liquor through its 672 vends in Chhattisgarh.

The first information report (FIR), which charges Tomar and others with corruption, said he had demanded and accepted an 8% bribe to clear bills for ₹3.43 crore raised by Eagle Hunter Solutions Ltd, one of the companies contracted to supply manpower at the liquor vends.

ED officials stumbled upon this alleged bribery racket during searches conducted in November 2023 in connection with money laundering allegations linked to irregularities in the purchase and sale of liquor between 2019 and 2022.

In its complaint to the police, ED said two persons, Abhishek Kumar Singh and Tijauram Nirmalkar, were intercepted while handing ₹28.8 lakh to Devansh Devangan and Jitendra Kumar Nirmalkar on November 29 , 2023 near the office of CSMCL,

According to the ED complaint, their interrogation revealed that the money was a bribe for Tomar. The two men collecting the cash were instructed to collect the money by their realtor boss Lokeshwar Prasad Sinha, owner of M/s Fortune Buildcon. “When Sinha was questioned, he revealed that he had been asked to collect the cash by Navin Pratap Singh Tomar,” the complaint said.

“M/s Eagle Hunter Solutions Ltd, which is one of the manpower supplying companies, had submitted bills worth ₹3.43 crore to CSMCL office, but Naveen Pratap Singh Tomar forced them to give a bribe of ₹28.8 lakh in return for clearing the said bills,” the ED communication said.

“The officer has abused his official position as a public servant to earn illegal pecuniary advantage. More senior functionaries of the CSMCL could be involved in this corruption racket. Details of some more tenders and suppliers who were forced to pay bribes of 8% of the submitted bill amount have been discovered,” ED said, adding that while it was tasked with the investigation of \money laundering, it was bound to report the commission of cognizable offences to the anti-corruption agency.