New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) Land and flats, located in various cities of Madhya Pradesh, worth Rs 70 crore, have been attached under the anti-money laundering law as part of an alleged fake liquor challan scam that took place in the state, the Enforcement Directorate said on Saturday.
The federal probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday to attach 28 immovable assets located in Indore, Mandsaur and Khargone districts of the state.
The current market value of these properties is Rs 70 crore, the ED said in a statement.
The case pertains to a modus operandi used by certain operatives that enabled liquor contractors in the state to "illicitly" obtain profits while causing significant losses to the state treasury.
The ED had said earlier that a "fraudulent" scheme was undertaken where the accused liquor contractors initially deposited treasury challans with nominal amounts, deliberately leaving the "Rupees in Words" section blank.
After the deposit, they "fraudulently" filled in inflated amounts in both figures and words.
"These manipulated challan copies were subsequently submitted to country liquor warehouses or district excise offices (in the case of foreign liquor) as false proof of payment for excise duties, basic license fee or minimum guarantee commitments," the agency alleged.
On the basis of these forged documents, the accused secured "illegal" NOCs and liquor license approvals, thereby "defrauding" the MP government, it said.
The agency had arrested two persons in this case. The ED stems from an Indore Police (Raoji police station) FIR.