As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) turns the heat on the liquor mafia, politicians, and bureaucrats in Punjab in one of the biggest liquor scams in the country, the police, and the state excise department seem to be buying time in sharing evidence with the central probe agency.
The multi-crore scam, which smells of a big-time money laundering racket, is giving sleepless nights to several prominent politicians close to power.
Reportedly, these politicians belong to four districts of Punjab i.e., Ludhiana Rural, Mohali, Khanna, and Patiala.
The roots of liquor mafia are deep-seated in Punjab and they promoted illegal liquor bottling business amidst the coronavirus induced lockdown.
Top sources in the ED said that Police Administration of Patiala, Khanna, Mohali and Ludhiana Rural had been asked to provide copies of FIRs, investigation findings, and bank details of those involved in the liquor scam. The investigating officer also paid visits to these police officials to get details, also, wrote a letter to them but no information has been revealed yet.
However, this clearly indicates that a large bunch of politicians and officials are involved in money laundering scam and are still favoring illicit liquor business.
The ED from the past two months is also awaiting crucial documents to be handed over by the Punjab Excise Department, which raided distilleries and bottling plants in the past two years.
When asked about not providing the information to the ED, an official on behalf of the Principal Secretary (Excise and Taxation) said, "We will respond as per rules."
It has been learned from the top sources of ED, liquor mafia managed to do the business of Rs 1,000-1,500 crore by smuggling operations in Punjab and its neighboring states amid the lockdown+ (curfew).
Initial findings also point towards a political-bureaucrat nexus that patronized the liquor mafia in the state. After an FIR was lodged against leaders, the matter took a twisting turn and was politicized. Karan Avtar Singh, former Chief Secretary of Punjab, who held the charge of Excise and Taxation Department, was also alleged in the case. Other prominent Congress leaders of the state accused Karan Avtar of supporting liquor mafia for which he had to lose his designation.
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Lately, the CM had to intervene in the matter and had promised to book the guilty and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unravel the nexus which has been actively hitting the excise revenues of the state.
ED Deputy Director, Niranjan Singh, is investigating the matter, who had already busted a few major drug rackets namely Bhola Drug Racket, Raja Kandola Drug Racket. Niranjan Singh is known as an upright officer who works diligently to safeguard the interests of the natives.
Notably, the Punjab government and the police administration is not co-operating the investigation team to resolve the mystery as revelations might disturb the harmony among the government.