Rs 2,000cr liquor scam: High court declares arrest of accused illegal

Time of India

2 days ago

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has declared the arrest of Anwar Dhebar, accused in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore Chhattisgarh liquor scam, as 'illegal'.
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In its order passed on May 30, the court noted that Dhebar's arrest memo did not contain any column for the ground of the arrest of the petitioner and he neither was informed about the grounds of arrest, nor reasons for arrest.
Allowing a writ petition filed by Anwar Dhebar, a division bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Madan Pal Singh granted him bail in the FIR lodged against him at Kasna police station of GB Nagar in 2023.
The court sent this judgment to the office of the director general of police (DGP), UP, directing him to get it circulated among all the police personnel of the state of Uttar Pradesh. "We are getting this circulation done as a technical error in many of the arrests is resulting in the declaration of the arrests as illegal", the court added.
According to this FIR, M/s Prizm Holography Security Films Pvt Ltd, a company based in Site-5, UPSIDC, Greater Noida, was allegedly granted a tender illegally by the Chhattisgarh Excise Department in 2019 to supply holograms meant to ensure liquor authenticity.
However, in connivance with top state officials, the firm supplied duplicate holograms, facilitating the sale of illicit country liquor from state-run shops.
Senior IAS and ITS officers named in the case included Arunpati Tripathi (Special Secretary, Excise), Niranjan Das (Excise Commissioner), and Anil Tuteja. Also named are Anwar Dhebar, brother of the then Raipur mayor, and Vidhu Gupta, managing director of Prizm Holography.
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The FIR claimed that holograms, both original and duplicate, were manufactured at the Noida facility.
Almost 11 months later, on June 18, 2024, Dhebar, who had been granted bail by the Chhattisgarh high court at 9.20 PM in a separate case was arrested immediately by the Uttar Pradesh Police just 20 minutes later in Raipur itself.
Following the arrest, the UP investigation officer (IO) applied for a transit remand under Section 167 of the CrPC before the Magistrate at Raipur, which was granted for 48 hours.
Subsequently, on June 21, 2024, Dhebar was produced before the Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act), Meerut, who remanded him in judicial custody till July 1, 2024.
This happened despite the petitioner having specifically objected to the arrest, arguing that it was in violation of Articles 19(1) and 22(1) of the Constitution of India, as well as section 50 of the CrPC, which mandates communication of the grounds of arrest, Dhebar's lawyer said.
He then moved the high court, seeking a declaration that his arrest was illegal and void, and further prayed for the quashing of all subsequent remand orders.
On the other hand, the additional advocate general for the state submitted that since there was a memo of arrest and the son of the petitioner had been informed about the arrest, it could not be said to be illegal, as the reasons were known to the petitioners.
The court observed that the arrest memo did not contain any column stating the reason for arrest.
Furthermore, no opportunity of hearing was given to the petitioner to oppose the custodial remand. Thus, the court concluded 'with some certainty' that the petitioner was never furnished with the grounds of arrest, as mandated under Section 50 CrPC (now Section 47 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita).
Thus, the court declared arrests illegal, however, it refused to interfere with the charge-sheet, which has been submitted. The court clarified that the court may continue with the proceedings in accordance with law as per the charge-sheet.