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Jharkhand ACB questions IAS officer for fourth day in liquor fraud
An ACB official close to the matter said Kumar is being repeatedly questioned as he had held key positions before the scam surfaced and is expected to know how certain decisions were taken in violation of rules. Earlier, he was questioned on Friday, Monday and Tuesday at the ACB office.
The Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) questioned commercial tax commissioner Amit Kumar for the fourth day on Wednesday in the liquor scam case, officials said.
An ACB official close to the matter said Kumar is being repeatedly questioned as he had held key positions before the scam surfaced and is expected to know how certain decisions were taken in violation of rules. Earlier, he was questioned on Friday, Monday and Tuesday at the ACB office.
“Amit Kumar was the excise commissioner and managing director of Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation Limited (JSBCL) when the excise policy was implemented in the state. The ACB wants to know how blacklisted placement agencies and liquor traders from Chhattisgarh were allotted work under the state’s new excise policy and whether he had any role in verifying the bank guarantee. However, so far, it has not received any satisfactory reply,” the official said.
Another ACB official said Kumar expressed his inability to share information, stating that he was not in the department when the scam took place.
“Kumar is repeatedly saying that he has no information on the matter. According to him, the excise policy was implemented on May 1, 2022, and he was transferred two months later, on July 10, 2022. He claims the scam occurred a year after his transfer and therefore he has no knowledge of what happened thereafter,” the ACB official said.
Kumar is the sixth IAS officer under the ACB scanner. On November 27, 2025, the ACB questioned IAS officer Karan Satyarthi, the present deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum district. On October 30, the ACB interrogated IAS officers Manoj Kumar and Mukesh Kumar in the same scam. On June 17, the ACB arrested former excise commissioner Amit Prakash in connection with the case. IAS officer Vinay Kumar Choubey was arrested on May 20.
The case pertains to the misuse of position in selecting placement agencies, causing a loss of ₹38 crore to the state government. The ACB registered an FIR on May 20 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections, including section 61(2) read with sections 318/336/340/316/45 & 49, and section 7(c)/12, along with section 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed the questioning of government officials in the liquor scam as an attempt to shield chief minister Hemant Soren and implicate “a government official”.
“Chief minister Hemant Soren is once again planning to sacrifice a government official to save himself. But with the increasing number of scams, the number of government officials will fall short compared to the scams. The liquor scam initially showed losses of ₹38 crore, then ₹70 crore, and now ₹136 crore,” said BJP state president and Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi, without naming the government official.
“To avoid the heat of the investigation, Hemant Soren tried to be very careful in the liquor scam, but he made a mistake. In his haste to make illegal profits, he awarded the liquor supply contract to a specific company even before issuing the tender in the newspaper,” Marandi said.
“According to the rules, the company supplying liquor was supposed to sign an agreement with JSBCL before supplying liquor, but the company was given the contract without any agreement. According to the ACB investigation, this company caused a loss of ₹136 crore to the government. It is not difficult to understand at whose behest this company was given the work without any agreement or tender, disregarding all rules and regulations,” he alleged.
Congress spokesperson Sonal Shanti, in response to Babulal Marandi’s comment, said the BJP is raising the issue outside the House as it does not have any matter of public importance to raise on the floor of the House.
“BJP does not have anything to raise on the floor of the House, and it is raising baseless issues outside the House. The ACB is probing the case in the right direction,” he said.
JMM spokesperson and general secretary Vinod Pandey could not be reached for comment on the matter.
