: Tuesday, 20 May 2025 7:51 PM
Ranchi. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jharkhand arrested the state senior IAS Vinay Kumar Choubey and Joint Product Commissioner Gajendra Singh in the liquor scam on Tuesday evening after a long interrogation. Both were produced in the special court of ACB in Ranchi, from where they were sent to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar in 14 days of judicial custody till June 3.
The ACB has taken such action against an IAS for the first time in the last decade and a half in the state. Vinay Kumar Choubey is currently the Principal Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department. Prior to this, he has held important positions like Secretary of Excise Department of Jharkhand and Secretary of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The ACB team raided his house on Tuesday morning. After this, at around 11 am, he reached her office for questioning. A few hours later, Gajendra Singh, Joint Commissioner of Excise Department in the state was also called and questioned.
The ACB questioned him about the alleged disturbances of the excise policy implemented on the lines of Chhattisgarh in 2022 in Jharkhand. At that time, Choubey was posted as Excise Secretary in Jharkhand. The roots of the liquor scam of Jharkhand are associated with Chhattisgarh, where the role of officers of State Marketing Corporation Limited and many big businessmen has been revealed in the liquor scam.
The investigation into the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh was started by the Economic Offenses Branch there. After this, the ED also started an investigation into the matter. The ED received information during this time that the syndicate which carried out the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh, implemented a new product policy in Jharkhand and the scam was repeated here on the same lines.
On this basis, the Chhattisgarh unit of ED issued summons to the then Excise Secretary of Jharkhand for questioning. During interrogation, Choubey had described himself as innocent and said that the product policy was implemented with the government’s consent. Later, a person from Jharkhand lodged an FIR in the Economic Offenses Branch of Chhattisgarh and alleged that the liquor syndicate of Chhattisgarh did a well -planned scam in Jharkhand.
It is alleged that some changes were made in the product policy of Jharkhand, which benefited the people of the liquor syndicate of Chhattisgarh. In collaboration with the officials of Chhattisgarh, Syndicate jointly acquired liquor supply and hologram system contracts in Jharkhand. This caused economic loss to the state government.
Based on the case registered in Chhattisgarh Economic Offenses Branch, the ED registered an ECIR and started investigation. After this, many people including IAS Vinay Chaubey were raided in October 2024. After the FIR was registered in the Chhattisgarh Economic Offenses Branch, the Jharkhand ACB started the investigation by registering PE (preliminary inquiry) after the permission of the state government.
The FIR was lodged after getting evidence of the disturbances in the preliminary investigation and then IAS Vinay Choubey and Joint Product Commissioner Gajendra Singh were questioned.
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Web Title-IAS Vinay Chaubey and Joint Excise Commissioner Gajendra Singh Arrested in Liquor Scam, Sent to Jail in Judicial Custody Till June 3
