E-Paper
Chhattisgarh HC grants interim bail to Anwar Dhebar in liquor syndicate case
On July 18, the SC restrained ED from investigating or taking any coercive measures in connection with an alleged liquor syndicate scam in Chhattisgarh
RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh high court on Monday granted interim bail to businessman Anwar Dhebar who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case linked to the alleged ₹2,000 crore liquor syndicate case in the state.
Dhebar is the elder brother of Raipur mayor Aijaz Dhebar, a Congress leader.
Anwar’s lawyer Mateen Siddiqui said that the bail was granted on the health grounds and in view of the July 18 decision of the Supreme Court. In this case, the top court restrained the federal agency from investigating or taking any coercive measures in connection with an alleged liquor syndicate scam in Chhattisgarh, noting that the agency has so far been acting without any court having taken cognisance of a predicate offence under the money laundering law.
A predicate offence is the foundational criminal offence that generates illegal proceeds of crime, leading to a separate probe by ED.
Anwar, who was arrested by ED on on May 6, was the first of the five people held by ED in this case. The other four were Arunpati Tripathi, managing director of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL), liquor businessman Trilok Singh Dhillon, hotelier Nitesh Purohit and Arvind Singh.
During the hearing, Mateen Siddiqui told the high court that Anwar Dhebar was suffering from various ailments related to kidney and drew attention to last week’s SC verdict.
Therefore, if protection has been enlarged to certain other accused, then the present applicant, who is behind the bars also deserves the same, the court was told
ED opposed the interim bail application but after hearing the arguments, the high court directed Anwar Dhebar’s release on furnishing a personal bond of ₹5 lakh with two equivalent sureties of ₹5 lakh each to the satisfaction of the trial court.
ED argued that the prosecution complaint (charge-sheet) in the case was placed before a PMLA court in Raipur on July 4 in which it alleged that the accused generated ₹2,161 crore in the alleged ‘liquor scam’ that began in 2019 in Chhattisgarh.
