The Chhattisgarh High Court granted bail to former CMO Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia in cases filed by the ED and EOW in the alleged Rs 2,883 crore liquor scam. The Court cited delay in trial, parity with co-accused, and substantial completion of investigation.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted bail to Saumya Chaurasia, a former Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) during the previous Congress government led by Bhupesh Baghel, in two separate cases linked to the alleged multi-crore liquor scam in the State.
The cases are being investigated by two different agencies. The State’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is probing the criminal angle after registering an FIR on January 17, 2024. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on the other hand, is investigating the money laundering aspect after recording an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on April 11, 2024.
After hearing detailed arguments from both sides, Justice Arvind Kumar Verma had reserved his order on February 24. On Saturday, the High Court pronounced its decision and granted bail to Chaurasia in both the EOW and ED cases.
According to the ED, the alleged liquor scam took place in Chhattisgarh between 2019 and 2023, during the tenure of the Congress government. The agency has alleged that a criminal syndicate, allegedly operating with the support of certain political and administrative officials, illegally supplied bootlegged liquor to government-run shops and collected unlawful commissions from liquor sales. The ED has claimed that the scam caused a loss of ₹2,883 crore to the State exchequer.
During the hearing, Additional Advocate General Praveen Das, appearing for the EOW, strongly opposed the bail application. He argued that Chaurasia, as a Deputy Secretary in the CMO,
“commanded exceptional influence and authority, wielding the same to orchestrate and facilitate the nefarious operations of the syndicate implicated in this colossal liquor scam”.
He further submitted that
“The investigation has unerringly uncovered her active and conscious participation in the criminal conspiracy, placing her at the nerve centre of the syndicate’s operations”,
and also pointed out that incriminating digital evidence had been recovered during the probe.
However, Chaurasia’s counsel, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, presented 20 different arguments in support of bail in the EOW case. He contended that her arrest was not necessary, there was no incriminating material against her, and that she was neither named in the FIR nor in the charge sheets filed so far.
While granting bail in the EOW case, the High Court observed that
“these circumstances unmistakably indicate that the trial is unlikely to commence and conclude in the near future and is bound to consume considerable time before reaching its logical conclusion”.
The Court further stated,
“Continued incarceration of the applicant pending completion of the investigation would not serve the ends of justice”.
In the ED case, the central agency alleged that Chaurasia received around ₹43.50 crore from the proceeds of the liquor scam. The ED claimed that she handled, assisted, acquired and possessed proceeds of crime amounting to approximately ₹115.5 crore.
Opposing the bail plea in the ED matter, ED counsel Zohaib Hossain argued that Chaurasia played a key supervisory role in the alleged money laundering operations. He submitted that WhatsApp chats are admissible evidence and that there is no legal requirement to recover proceeds of crime directly from the accused.
He further argued that the gravity of the offence was extremely serious and that delay in trial cannot be a ground for bail. He also justified her arrest after two years, stating that it was warranted in the circumstances of the case.
On the other hand, Chaurasia’s lawyer placed 26 arguments before the Court in the ED case. He highlighted that she is a woman, the investigation is already complete, and no proceeds of crime were recovered from her.
He further argued that the ED’s case is largely based on statements of co-accused persons and that arrests were made selectively, even after years of investigation. He contended that a prolonged trial is a valid ground for granting bail.
After hearing both sides, Justice Verma granted bail in the ED case as well, noting that the investigation was substantially complete. The Court observed that the case against Chaurasia is mainly based on statements and inferential allegations, and that the evidentiary value of these materials will be tested during the trial.
The High Court also referred to previous Supreme Court directions while considering the principle of parity. It noted that the alleged main conspirators in the liquor scam had already been granted bail. The Court recorded that the Supreme Court, in its February 9 order this year, had directed that Chaurasia’s case be considered on the touchstone of parity.
Importantly, the High Court also observed that the Supreme Court has already granted bail to Chaurasia in the coal levy scam as well as in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) scam. Therefore, the High Court held that continued detention in the present liquor scam cases would be inconsistent with the settled principle of parity.
The Court further took note of what it described as a “troubling pattern” in her case. It observed that she
“faces six arrests across multiple cases by diverse agencies (ED/CBI), entailing considerable aggregate incarcerations”.
Saumya Chaurasia was first arrested in 2022 in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. Since then, she has faced multiple investigations and arrests by different central and state agencies.
With this latest order, the Chhattisgarh High Court has granted her relief in both the EOW and ED cases linked to the alleged liquor scam, while clarifying that the merits of the evidence will be examined in detail during the trial.
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