Raipur, Jan 15 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Chhattisgarh Congress MLA and former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma in connection with an alleged liquor scam, officials said.

Slamming the move, Lakhma said he is being implicated in a false case.

The federal agency had on December 28 raided the premises of the ex-minister and his son Harish Lakhma in Raipur, Sukma and Dhamtari districts of the state as part of a money laundering investigation into the case.

The ED subsequently questioned Lakhma (71) and his son in the case.

Lakhma, who was called for questioning to the ED office here in the Pachpedi Naka area on Wednesday, has been arrested, official sources said.

The legislator was produced in a court here after his medical examination.

Talking to reporters before entering the courtroom, Lakhma said, “Neither any document nor a single penny was found during the raids (at his premises by ED). I am being sent to jail in a false case.” The tribal leader alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai have been trying to suppress the voice of “a poor tribal” and the tribal-dominated Bastar region.

“As panchayat polls are going to take place in the state, they want to keep me away from the elections. Therefore, they have taken action against me,” he claimed.

Senior Congress MLA and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel accused the ED of acting on the directives of the BJP-led Centre.

“The arrest of former minister and senior MLA Kawasi Lakhma ji is an action taken with the intention of political vendetta. On the instructions of its masters sitting in the central government, the ED has been conspiring to defame Congress leaders. The entire Congress party stands with Kawasi Lakhma ji,” Baghel said in a post on X.

The ED in a statement had earlier claimed that Lakhma was the main recipient of the proceeds of crime in cash when he was the excise minister during the Congress regime.

Lakhma, as per the ED, used to receive “substantial amounts in cash on a monthly basis out of the proceeds of crime generated from liquor scam”.

The alleged liquor scam in the state, as per the ED, was orchestrated between 2019-22 when Chhattisgarh was ruled by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government. Lakhma, a six-time MLA from Konta (Sukma district), was the excise minister then.

“The Chhattisgarh liquor scam resulted in massive loss to the state exchequer and filled the pockets of the beneficiaries of the liquor syndicate with more than Rs 2,100 crore illegal proceeds of crime,” the agency had claimed earlier. PTI TKP NR

Money laundering allegation prompts arrest in alleged liquor scam; accused calls the case politically motivated. Arrest arising from a federal money laundering investigation into an alleged liquor allocation scheme where raids, questioning and subsequent arrest followed allegations that the former excise minister was the principal recipient of monthly cash disbursements from illegal proceeds, causing significant loss to the state exchequer.