Chhattisgarh High Court denies bail to ex-IAS Anil Tuteja in ACB case on liquor scam

The Chhattisgarh High Court on December 4 refused to grant bail to former bureaucrat Anil Tuteja in a case initiated against him by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in connection with the Chhattisgarh liquor scam [Anil Tuteja v. State of Chhattisgarh]..Justice Arvind Kumar Verma found that a prima facie case has been made out against Tuteja and that there was material indicating that the offence allegedly committed by him caused huge financial loss to the State exchequer.The Court found that Tuteja appears to have misused his position as a government servant and that he was, prima facie, involved in the liquor license scam.The Court added that such corruption should be viewed as an enemy of the nation, while concluding that it would not be appropriate to allow Tuteja's release on bail. "Corruption is an enemy of the nation and tracking down corrupt public servants and punishing such persons is a necessary mandate of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and further taking in view that corruption is really a human rights violation specially right to life, liberty, equality and non-discrimination and it is an economic obstacles to the realization of all human rights and further taking into consideration that charge-sheet has been filed against the applicant and considering the nature of accusation and gravity of offence, the applicant has been charged, which are extremely serious and such offences are alleged to have been committed in the State of Chhattisgarh, in the considered opinion of this Court, it is not proper to order release of present applicant on regular bail," the Court held..The case against Tuteja involves allegations of cheating, forgery, bribery and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with a ₹2,000 crore liquor syndicate racket that was allegedly operating in Chhattisgarh during the tenure of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.Tuteja is also facing a connected money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had initially registered a money laundering case in the matter on July 4, 2023. However, on April 8 this year, the Supreme Court quashed the ED's July 2023 money laundering complaint on the ground that there was no predicate offence (the ED's complaint was based on certain provisions of the Income Tax Act which did not fall in the PMLA's list of scheduled offences).Thereafter, on April 11, the ED registered another complaint (ECIR) against Tuteja..On August 20, the High Court had refused to quash this ED case, leading to his arrest by the ED on August 21. Thereafter, he was summoned and interrogated by the ACB as well. Tuteja then preferred application for regular bail in the case registered by the ACB, which was rejected by the High Court in its December 4 order. "This is a case of fraud of large magnitude where public money has been swindled by the applicant in conspiracy with other co-accused persons. The offences alleged against the applicant are very serious involving huge financial loss to the State exchequer," the High Court added in its order. .Meanwhile, Tuteja also filed a plea before the Supreme Court challenging his arrest by the ED in the money laundering case. However, he withdrew this plea on December 6, after the Court granted him permission to move a bail plea in the ED case as well instead. Notably, the top court also criticised the ED's conduct in the matter, with respect to the manner in which Tuteja was summoned and thereafter arrested."What was the hurry? This is not the way to arrest a person," the top court had remarked during yesterday's hearing. .Advocates Arshdeep Khurana, Sourabh Dangi, Sajal Kumar Gupta and Sourabh kale, appeared for Tuteja before the High Court.Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani assisted by Additional Advocate General Vivek Sharma appeared for the State..[Read Judgment]