The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested former state excise minister and Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma in connection with the alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh. Official sources gave this information. On December 28 last year, the federal probe agency had raided premises linked to Kawasi Lakhma and his son Harish in Raipur, Sukma and Dhamtari districts of Chhattisgarh as part of a money laundering probe related to the case. After this, ED also interrogated Lakhma and his son in the case.
Official sources said that the ED had called Lakhma (71) for questioning on Wednesday to its office located in Pachpedi Naka area, where he was arrested. According to sources, Lakhma will be presented in the court after medical examination. Earlier, the ED had claimed in a statement that Lakhma, who was the excise minister during the previous Congress regime, was the main recipient of the proceeds of crime in the liquor ‘scam’.
The investigating agency had alleged that Lakhma used to receive “huge sums in cash on a monthly basis from the proceeds of crime earned from the liquor scam”. According to the ED, the alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh took place between 2019 and 2022, when the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government was ruling the state. Lakhma, a six-time MLA from Konta (Sukma district), was the Excise Minister at that time. The investigating agency had claimed, “Chhattisgarh liquor scam has resulted in huge loss to the state exchequer and more than Rs 2,100 crore of ill-gotten proceeds in the pockets of the beneficiaries of the liquor syndicate.”