A court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district on Sunday remanded retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja in one-day judicial custody in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2000 crore liquor scam in the state.
Tuteja, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday, was remanded in judicial custody by the court of Seventh Civil Judge (Class II) Ranju Vaishnav, said the probe agency's lawyer Saurabh Pandey.
The ED had filed a fresh money laundering case in the alleged liquor scam case after the Supreme Court recently quashed its earlier FIR that was based on an Income Tax Department complaint.
The apex court had ruled there was no scheduled offence and, hence, the money laundering case does not stand.
The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Raipur had registered an FIR in January under Indian Penal Code sections 420, 467, 471 along with sections 7 and 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act in the alleged liquor scam.
As these sections of the IPC and PC Act come under scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Raipur zonal office of the ED registered a fresh case, Pandey said.
"The ED summoned Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja when they were recording their statement in the ACB office in Raipur on Saturday. After they came to the central agency's office, the two were interrogated. Based on evidence, Anil Tuteja was arrested on Saturday night," he said.
"As the special (PMLA) court was closed on Sunday, Tuteja was produced before the concerned jurisdictional magistrate. The ED sought his custodial remand for 14 days. The court granted one day judicial custody. On Monday, Tuteja will be produced in the special court," Pandey informed.
While Tuteja was held under the PMLA provisions, his son Yash was allowed to leave.
Tuteja had retired from service last year. He last held post was that joint secretary in the industry and commerce department of Chhattisgarh.
The agency, just before the Supreme Court's ruling, had shared details of its probe in the case with the state EOW/ACB seeking registration of a criminal case. Once they filed a FIR, the ED registered a new money laundering case taking cognisance of that complaint.
The EOW/ACB registered this FIR on January 17, about a month after the BJP unseated the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in the assembly polls, and named 70 individuals and companies, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma and former chief secretary Vivek Dhand.
The ED has estimated the alleged "proceeds of crime" in the case at Rs 2,161 crore.
Anwar Dhebar, Arvind Singh and Arunpati Tripathi, an Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer and special secretary of the excise department, were arrested by the EOW/ACB as part of the FIR registered in January.
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