Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested two individuals under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with an alleged ₹50 crore fake liquor challan scam in Indore.
Those arrested were identified as Ansh Trivedi and Raju Dashwant. The action was taken on October 3. Both accused were produced before the local district court, which remanded them to ED custody till October 8.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ansh Trivedi and Raju Dashwant were the main planners behind a fake liquor challan scam. The scam helped liquor contractors make illegal profits and caused big losses to the state government.
The investigation found that the accused contractors first deposited treasury challans with very small amounts and left the 'Rupees in Words' section blank.
After depositing them, they later filled in higher amounts in both numbers and words. These fake challans were then submitted to liquor warehouses or excise offices as proof of payment for taxes and license fees.
Using these forged documents, the accused managed to get illegal No Objection Certificates (NOCs) and liquor licenses and cheated the Madhya Pradesh government, the ED said.
The money laundering case is based on a police complaint filed at Raoji Bazar Police Station. It accuses some liquor contractors of causing a loss of ₹49.42 crore to the state by forging and manipulating government treasury challans.
