The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested former Chhattisgarh Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma in connection with an alleged Rs 2,161 crore liquor scam, reported The Indian Express.

The six-time MLA from Konta in Sukma district was questioned at the Enforcement Directorate’s Raipur office for several days, the newspaper cited an unidentified official as saying.

The alleged scam occurred during the tenure of the state’s previous Congress-led government, of which Lakhma was a part.

It involved a criminal syndicate colluding with excise officials to bootleg alcohol into government liquor shops and extort illegal commissions from sales. The Enforcement Directorate has claimed the syndicate made a profit of Rs 2,161 crore.

While being taken to court, Lakhma told reporters: “Not even a single penny has been found from me but still they have arrested me. I was cooperating with them. The BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] is falsely implicating a poor man like me. But I will keep raising the issues of Bastar.”

On December 28, the Enforcement Directorate raided properties linked to Lakhma, including his residence in Raipur and his son Harish’s home in Sukma.

After the raids, Lakhma told reporters: “They asked me if I knew about the liquor scam. I said I saw it on TV and read about it in the papers but it did not come to my knowledge. I am an illiterate person. Whatever paper was placed before me, I signed. On what they took my signature, I do not know.”

Lakhma also claimed political vendetta, saying: “The liquor scam has been going on for one year, why did they not take action on me back then? The local body elections are nearing and hence they want to defame me and hurt the Congress party.”

The Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau registered a first information report in the case on January 17, 2024, based on the Enforcement Directorate’s complaints. The FIR accused 70 persons of involvement in the alleged scam, including Lakhma, Indian Administrative Service officer Anil Tuteja, and Special Secretary Arun Pati Tripathi.

They have been charged with corruption, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Anwar Dhebar, brother of Raipur mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, orchestrated the scam. Although the Enforcement Directorate had filed a prosecution complaint last year, Lakhma and others were linked to the case in the latest FIR.