Supreme Court rejects bail to Chhattisgarh bizman Anwar Dhebar in liquor case

Monday’s order comes as a huge setback to Anwar Dhebar who had been granted bail in a related money laundering case by another bench of the top court in May this year

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of businessman Anwar Dhebar in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case, observing the charges against him to be “serious”.

The Supreme Court told Anwar Dhebar, “You are obviously a privileged, resourceful person. You can play around with whatever you have made.” (File)

“The allegations are very serious. You have a distinct role to play in this case,” a bench of justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh said, dismissing Dhebar’s plea after hearing the state government which alleged that Dhebar was the “lynchpin” in the entire syndicate linked to the excise case. It also alleged that Dhebar had a role in fixing tender conditions and determining market share.

Monday’s order comes as a huge setback to Dhebar who had been granted bail by a different bench of the top court in May this year in a related money laundering case investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Dhebar, referred to the May 19 order granting him bail. “For 540 days, I am in jail and there is no possibility of the trial concluding soon. The investigation of the case is still on and there are 41 accused, 700 witnesses in a matter where the state has already filed five charge sheets,” Rohatgi said

The court remarked, “You are obviously a privileged, resourceful person. You can play around with whatever you have made.”

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who appeared for the state along with advocate Ravi Sharma, said the petitioner was accused under section 467 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which was punishable with life sentence, while the money laundering offence carries a maximum punishment of seven years.

“He is the lynchpin of this case and a key member of the excise scam syndicate. He was close to the then excise minister and top bureaucrats and the consequence of it was the unjust enrichment made by the syndicate has been investigated by us and found to over ₹4,000 crore. ED had pegged this figure at ₹2,100 crore,” Jethmalani said.

The state government said the investigation was seriously impacted in the past because the accused secured judicial orders barring investigators from taking any coercive acion. He stressed that custodial interrogation of the petitioner is a must to further unravel the scam.

The Chhattisgarh government had, in an earlier proceeding produced WhatsApp chats recovered from Dhebar’s mobile, which shed light on his role in the case. According to the state, he allegedly acted as a link between retired Chhattisgarh bureaucrat Anil Tuteja and the top state excise official Arun Pati Tripathi, both who are co-accused, in passing on instructions which showed his influence on the public servants.

The state alleged that Dhebar, who is the brother of former Raipur mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, used to get information about the collection of bribes from his associates and would remain in touch with the above two accused apprising them of the same.

According to the prosecution, Arun Pati Tripathi was accused of running a parallel excise ministry in the state alongside former bureaucrat Anil Tuteja and businessmen Anwar Dhebar, among others, who benefited from the excise policy.

The state has alleged that Tripathi influenced changes to the excise policy and rigged the tendering process for holograms, leading to the sale of liquor bottles with fake holograms and causing a loss of state revenue.