Chhattisgarh ACB lodges FIR against retired IAS officers, former advocate general in NAN scam

RAIPUR: Anti-Corruption Bureau in Chhattisgarh has registered a case against two retired IAS officers and a former state advocate general for allegedly misusing their positions to influence the ongoing probe in Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam case. The former IAS officers Anil Tuteja, Alok Shukla and former advocate general Satish Chandra Verma were allegedly accused of having deep interference in the NAN case trial during the previous Congress regime in state.
ACB officials said that an FIR was lodged on Monday against the three persons Shukla, Tuteja and Verma based on the report of Enforcement Directorate under Sections of IPC for furnishing false information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person, false charge of offence made with intent to injure, false evidence, threatening any person to give false evidence, 166A public servant disobeying direction under law and criminal conspiracy. Besides, provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act were also imposed in the FIR.
ACB/ EOW is presently investigating the alleged multi-crore NAN scam that was exposed in February 2015 that was followed by multiple raids at 25 premises of the Civil Supplies Corporation, commonly known as NAN or Public Distribution Scheme scam. The agency had then seized unaccounted cash worth Rs 3.64 crore. ED in 2019 had lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on the FIR and chargesheet filed by the Chhattisgarh's ACB/EOW in the scam.
According to the latest FIR, there was some digital evidence related to Whatsapp chats of Tuteja, and Shukla, collected by Income Tax department based on cases registered by ACB/EOW and ED in the NAN scam. The FIR mentions that the digital evidence indicated that the duo officials made attempts to influence the investigation by keeping a continuous discussion with significant bureaucrats and constitutional authorities of then Congress govt to impact the trial going on in Raipur court.
Former IAS officer Anil Tuteja had served as the chairperson of NAN, while Alok Shukla was the managing director following which, their names surfaced when the alleged scam was exposed.
The FIR stated that prima facie, the digital evidence has Whatsapp chats and documents from 2019 to 2020, that indicates Shukla and Tuteja allegedly misused their respective positions and giving undue advantage to then Advocate General Verma, they expected him to avail cooperation in the case.
According to the FIR, the two officers were hand in gloves with Verma and they together were involved in criminal conspiracy by fiddling with the documents of the department and other information related to the EOW in the case. Serious allegations were mentioned in the FIR stating that the officials sought readymade and safe replies in their favour, to be submitted in High Court in the cases heard against them. This helped them obtain the benefit of anticipatory bail in EOW/ ACB and ED cases.
The officials allegedly used all the power of running the govt to pressurize witnesses in the case to change their statement, the FIR stated.
Shukla was posted as principal secretary between 2018 and 2020, and Tuteja, was joint secretary between 2019 and 2020, and both were among the most powerful bureaucrats during Bhupesh Baghel led govt having interference is govt operations, policy and decision making in the system, and in a way they were the key persons to run the govt.
While Shukla is retired, Tuteja was arrested by ED recently in a case of money laundering in alleged liquor scam worth Rs 2,000 crore.