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ANCHI: Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Tuesday arrested senior IAS officer Vinay Kumar Choubey and joint commissioner of excise division Gajendra Kumar Singh for his or her involvement within the alleged liquor rip-off within the state.Choubey, a 1999 batch IAS officer who was secretary to Hemant Soren in his earlier time period as CM, is at current principal secretary of panchayati raj division. He had served because the state excise division secretary and managing director of the Jharkhand State Drinks Company Restricted in the course of the Soren govt, which introduced within the state’s new excise coverage. ACB has accused Choubey and Singh of deceiving the Jharkhand govt, resulting in a lack of Rs 38 crore to the state exchequer. The officers misused their posts to pick out placement businesses below the liquor coverage with out following guidelines, ACB mentioned. The 2 officers had been questioned for round 5 hours on the ACB workplace earlier than their arrest. They had been then produced earlier than the particular ACB courtroom, which remanded them in judicial custody until June 3. The case towards Choubey, Singh and others had been lodged below related sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.In Oct 2024, ED had carried out raids on the premises of Choubey and Singh in reference to the liquor rip-off in Chhattisgarh.Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi mentioned, “I had written to the chief minister in April 2022 and warned him concerning the liquor scams happening in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The government not solely ignored my letter and warnings but in addition helped perform the rip-off value 1000’s of crores in Jharkhand to profit the liquor mafia of Chhattisgarh.”The previous CM added, “The whole cupboard of Hemant govt loved the Raipur tour up to now on the expense of the identical liquor mafia. Now, when motion is being taken in Chhattisgarh and the matter has reached ED and CBI, how can the investigation being carried out by ACB in Jharkhand be trusted? It seems that because of worry of the continued CBI investigation in Chhattisgarh, some small fries are made scapegoats to save lots of the massive fish.If Hemantji actually desires to convey out the reality of the rip-off and has the braveness, he ought to order a CBI investigation.”