Five senior officers said in the court - Vinay Chaub was the real mastermind of the liquor scam.
State Bureau, Ranchi. The ACB, which is investigating the liquor scam case in the state under the Anti-Corruption Act, has recorded the statements of the suspects and officials related to the tenure of Vinay Kumar Choubey, former Principal Secretary of the Excise and Prohibition Department, in the court.
In their statement, everyone has described the then Principal Secretary of the department, Vinay Kumar Choubey, as the mastermind of the liquor scam. ACB has so far recorded the statements of former Commissioner of Excise, IAS officer cum Commercial Tax Commissioner Amit Kumar, DC Ramgarh Faiz Ak Ahmed Mumtaz and DC of East Singhbhum Karan Satyarthi, besides the then Joint Commissioner of Excise Gajendra Singh of the department and local representative of Manpower Supply Agency M/s Marshan Neeraj Kumar in the court.
The gist of everyone's statement is that whatever the then departmental secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey wanted, happened in the department. Anyone who protested had to face action or transfer. One by one many commissioners changed the product. They kept pressurizing those who did not listen to their demands to resign. Gave protection to those giving fake bank guarantees. Liquor was sold at a price higher than MRP.
Blacklisted liquor traders in Chhattisgarh were brought into the liquor business in Jharkhand and collected huge amount of commission from them and gave them work.
Gajendra Singh had protested
Gajendra Singh, the then Joint Commissioner of Excise and Prohibition Department, told the court in his statement that he had opposed making Chhattisgarh State Municipal Corporation Limited a consultant and implementing the excise policy on the Chhattisgarh model in Jharkhand.
He had told the then Excise Secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey that this model had flopped in the past. Despite this, the then Excise Secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey did not listen to his advice. The excise policy came into force in the state in May 2022.
Those who protested were pressurized to resign. Placement agencies did not meet revenue targets. Despite this, JSBCL did not deduct from their bank guarantee. Placement agency named M/s Marshan Innovative and M/s Vision Hospitality took the contract of manpower supply on fake bank guarantee, no action was taken against them.
ACB found in investigation
ACB has also found in the investigation that Vinay Kumar Choubey, the then Secretary of Excise and Prohibition Department, gave the contract of supply of manpower to his favorite placement agencies, ignoring the rules. Gave them work in exchange for action against placement agencies giving fake bank guarantees. Due to this the department suffered a revenue loss of about Rs 38 crore.
ACB took its investigation further and found that this case of liquor scam is worth around Rs 100 crore or more. Officials have also made illegal recovery by selling liquor at a price higher than the MRP in the state.