The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties with a deed value of about ₹200 crore and a market value exceeding ₹1,000 crore in connection with the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor case.The agency said the properties were allegedly acquired using proceeds generated through the liquor case. (Getty file photo)According to a press note issued by ED on Monday, the attachments were made through three provisional attachment orders (PAOs) issued by the ED’s Raipur Zonal Office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on May 28. The agency said the properties were allegedly acquired using proceeds generated through the liquor case that operated in Chhattisgarh between 2019 and 2023.Based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), ED’s probe found that a liquor syndicate led by businessman Anwar Dhebar and retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, along with senior government officials, distillery owners and private entities, manipulated the state’s excise system to generate illegal proceeds exceeding ₹2,883 crore.The agency alleged that the proceeds were generated through inflated liquor procurement rates, clandestine manufacture and sale of unaccounted liquor, and commissions collected through FL-10A licences granted to favoured entities.In the first attachment order, the ED attached immovable properties linked to Vikas Agrawal and Anwar Dhebar. Investigators alleged that Agrawal acted as the syndicate’s ground-level financial manager, collecting commissions from distilleries and FL-10A licence holders and routing funds to Dhebar.Also Read: DMF case: EOW/ACB files 5,000-page supplementary chargesheet against ex-IAS officerThe attached assets include properties held in the names of Agrawal’s family members and alleged benami properties linked to Dhebar in Raipur and land parcels allegedly held through several other firms. The value of properties attached under this order is around ₹30 crore, the ED said.In the second attachment order, the agency attached a property located in Anjuna, North Goa, owned by a private company. The company’s directors include Rahul Agrawal and Vijay Kumar Agrawal.The ED alleged that the hotel was acquired entirely from proceeds of crime for approximately ₹110 crore and that the payment was made in unaccounted cash generated from the liquor case.The third attachment order covers bank accounts, shares and mutual funds of three FL-10A licence-holder companies. According to the ED, the firms were compelled to transfer 50-60 per cent of their profits to the syndicate, amounting to approximately ₹51 crore.In a related development, the ED has filed its sixth supplementary prosecution complaint before the Special PMLA Court in Raipur, naming four additional accused in the case. They have been identified as Vijay Bhatia, T. Bhuneshwar Rao, Probir Sharma and Nikhil Chandrakar.The agency alleged that Bhatia held a 52.5 per cent benami stake in a firm and that Sharma was involved in transporting large amounts of cash on behalf of the syndicate. With the inclusion of the four accused, the total number of accused persons in the PMLA prosecution has risen to 85.The ED said further investigation into the case is underway.