Raipur, 17 December (H.S.): The Enforcement Directorate effected the arrest of Soumya Chaurasia, a suspended state administrative service officer and erstwhile deputy secretary in the Chief Minister's Office under the prior Congress dispensation, late Tuesday in the sprawling Chhattisgarh liquor scam probe.

ED counsel Saurabh Kumar Pande disclosed that Chaurasia, previously aligned with ex-Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, succumbed to custody following protracted interrogation unearthing evidence of illicit liquor syndicates, commission rackets, and governmental malfeasance during Baghel's tenure.

She faces production before a Raipur PMLA special court on Wednesday, where the agency anticipates seeking remand to dismantle the money laundering web implicated in over ₹3,000 crore irregularities.

This apprehension, predicated on a state Anti-Corruption Bureau FIR, spotlights a cartel allegedly encompassing senior IAS officer Anil Tuteja, former excise managing director A.P. Tripathi, and businessman Anwar Dhebar, with prior arrests including Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma amplifying the scandal's political reverberations.

Investigations persist, tracing hawala channels and shell entities that purportedly funneled proceeds from manipulated excise policies. The development intensifies scrutiny on the erstwhile regime's excise apparatus.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar