THE Enforcement Directorate’s Raipur Zonal Office (ED-RPZO) mounted fresh searches across six Chhattisgarh cities on Friday in connection with the alleged Rs 3,200-crore liquor scam, pursuing investigative leads emerging from digital evidence seized during its October 27 operations against suspected intermediaries linked to influential syndicate members Anwar Dhebar and former Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) Managing Director Arun Pati Tripathi. Knowledgeable ED-RPZO sources associated with Friday’s operations indicated that investigators were examining additional financial and operational links within the alleged syndicate. Dhebar, brother of former Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, again came under scrutiny as investigators searched his Raipur residence. Simultaneous operations extended to Gariaband, Bilaspur, Durg, Dhamtari and Bhilai. Sources familiar with the swoop said the identities of other persons whose premises were covered remained undisclosed.

 

According to ED-RPZO officials familiar with the investigation, Tuesday’s searches had concentrated on individuals suspected of functioning as intermediaries for powerful syndicate members, particularly Dhebar and Tripathi. Their precise responsibilities and alleged financial dealings have not been officially established. The renewed operation assumes significance because investigators recovered substantial electronic evidence on October 27 without disclosing the suspected transactions or communication networks reflected in the material. Sources privy to Friday’s searches indicated that preliminary scrutiny had yielded leads warranting examination of additional premises, although the agency has not identified the specific findings prompting each search. During Tuesday’s operation, ED-RPZO teams, accompanied by armed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, searched three locations across Raipur and Durg. These included businessman Nitin Daga’s residence at Sushil Villa in Ravinagar, Raipur, and transporter Gulshan Baghel’s seventh-floor apartment at Rishabh Green City in Durg.

 

No cash was recovered during those searches, but investigators seized mobile phones, hard disks and documentary material for forensic examination and digital cloning. Agency sources had indicated that the individuals examined on October 27 were suspected of facilitating activities for influential syndicate members, rather than directly transporting illicit cash to Congress headquarters through hawala channels. Friday’s wider operation, including the renewed search at Dhebar’s residence, represents a further examination of those suspected connections. The broader investigation concerns alleged illegal liquor sales, commissions, cash collections and laundering arrangements during the previous Congress Government. In its October 9 supplementary prosecution complaint, ED alleged that approximately Rs 860 crore to Rs 880 crore generated through the syndicate reached Rajiv Bhawan, the Congress headquarters in Raipur, through arrangements involving former Pradesh Congress Committee Treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal.

 

On October 14, the State Economic Offences Investigation Bureau/Anti-Corruption Bureau (SEOIACB) filed its 27,000-page tenth supplementary chargesheet against 20 individuals and 22 firms and companies, alleging that Agrawal handled over Rs 1,000 crore under party fund arrangements. A knowledgeable ED-RPZO source associated with Friday’s operations told The Hitavada on condition of anonymity that searches were continuing when this report went to print and could extend into late evening. The agency would disclose its findings only after examining and quantifying any cash, electronic devices and documentary records recovered. Investigators would also correlate those recoveries with existing evidence to determine the individual roles of those searched, a crucial step before the suspected intermediary links could be substantiated.