A.P. liquor scam: remand of nine accused extended till Dec. 19

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Special Court, Vijayawada, on Friday extended judicial remand to nine accused in the liquor scam case, including Anil Chokhara, a notorious economic offender, till December 19.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case, produced Anil Chokhara, accused No.49, in the ACB Special Court. It accused him of operating about 35 shell companies and resorting to various economic offences.

The SIT police arrested Anil Chokhara, a native of Bijay Nagar in Rajasthan, at Navi Mumbai in November and brought him to A.P.

The accused had cases registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). He had earlier been arrested on charges of defrauding a bank, and involvement in fraud, forgery and other offences and was on conditional bail, the investigation officers said.

‘’The Modus Operandi (MO) of the accused is to identify people in financial distress and offer them help and in return collect their bank and other personal details. He then opens bank accounts using their names, phone numbers, PAN and other details. He uses these accounts for various economic offences, including money laundering,’’ the investigators said.

The accused also used multiple SIM cards, and bank accounts to evade investigation agencies. “It has been found during the investigation that Anil Chokhara played a key role in the A.P. liquor scam through his shell companies and resorted to a huge fraud,” they claimed.

The accused colluded with A1 Raj Kessireddy, A7 Muppidi Avinash Reddy and others, and diverted the money received from AP State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL), and routed it to some officers and other bigwigs in the liquor syndicate, they alleged.

Police Commissioner S.V. Rajashekar Babu, who is monitoring the SIT proble, told The Hindu that Anil Chokhara transferred about ₹77 crore from Leela Distilleries Private Limited, Adan Distilleries and SPY Agro Industries Limited to Nysna Multi Ventures, Olwick and Kripati Enterprises and Vishal Enterprises, floated by him.

Meanwhile, during the four-day police custody earlier, the SIT officials grilled Anil Chokara on his links with the prime accused in the case. They also questioned him about the alleged shell companies, and the channelling of money to some of the accused in the liquor syndicate.