Congress lambasts ED after SC quashes Rs 2161 Cr Chhattisgarh liquor scam complaint

New Delhi: Ahead of polls, Congress got a breather after the Supreme Court quashed ED’s complaint in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam.

Senior party leader and Spokesperson, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked if a scam to the tune of Rs 2,161 crore had taken place, as the ED alleged, why it could not produce any evidence in the Supreme Court that it was quashed.

Dr Singhvi said that the SC decision had vindicated the Congress party’s stand that the ED was working at the behest of the BJP government to target the opposition parties, including the Congress.

He pointed out that of the 15-20 percent of cases registered by the ED against various political leaders, 99 percent were against the opposition parties only. Blasting the ED’s misleading statement that only about 20 percent of cases were against the politicians, Singhvi said, the ED was not acknowledging that 99 percent of the 20 percent of cases against politicians were against the opposition politicians only.

Congress spokesperson reiterated that the ED had done it deliberately ahead of the elections to create a distorted view and deny the level playing field to the Congress party by suggesting imaginary figures like Rs 2,161 crore worth of scam. “If it was such a big scam, why wasn't ED able to provide any evidence of money laundering?’ he asked.

Dr Singhvi pointed out that the ED had alleged that hundreds of people were involved including the officials, the liquor manufacturers besides the politicians. If it was so, he asked, why was none of the manufacturers or government officials arrested by the ED, while remarking that the intention was obvious to malign the political opponents ahead of the Chhattisgarh elections.

He said the scam was alleged to have taken place in 2019-20 and asked why the ED initiated proceedings three years later, just before the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in 2023.

The senior Congress leader disclosed that with the BJP government having come in power in the state, had now started misusing the Economic Offences Wing of the government to target the opposition leaders, after having failed with the ED.

He said the Congress was not welcoming the decision for some particular person, but as a matter of principle as it had exposed the dubious intentions of the ED in alliance with the BJP. He said this also established the misuse of ED for political and electoral reasons.