Ranchi, Aug 14 (IANS) In a major setback to suspended senior IAS officer Vinay Kumar Chaubey, the Jharkhand High Court on Thursday rejected his bail plea in connection with the multi-crore liquor scam.

The matter was heard by Justice Sanjay Dwivedi, with Advocate Devesh Azmani representing Vinay Chaubey.

The plea not only sought bail but also challenged the validity of the FIR lodged by the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the subsequent arrest, urging the court to quash all related criminal proceedings.

Chaubey, a 2003-batch IAS officer, accused of misusing his official position, was arrested by the ACB on May 20 this year after nearly six hours of interrogation. He was later suspended following the arrest, as according to government service rules, any official held in custody for over 48 hours is liable to be suspended from service.

He is among 13 accused named in the FIR, which spans across Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra. So far, 10 people have been arrested and sent to judicial custody in the case.

Vinay Chaubey has previously served in several key positions, including Secretary of the Jharkhand Excise and Prohibition Department and Secretary to Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The alleged scam traces back to 2022, when the Jharkhand government introduced a new excise policy on the model of Chhattisgarh’s framework. To execute the policy, an agreement was signed with the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited.

Investigations revealed that tender conditions were allegedly manipulated to benefit a specific liquor syndicate. This syndicate, in collusion with officials of a Chhattisgarh-based consultant company, secured contracts for liquor supply and the state’s hologram system.

Authorities allege that the bank guarantees submitted by the winning companies were fake, leading to massive revenue losses. An internal audit of the Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation Limited found that seven agencies had defrauded the state exchequer of Rs 129.55 crore.

–IANS

snc/skp/dpb