The police today arrested an absconding "dummy" contractor, who was carrying a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head, involved in Rs 41.40 crore liquor contract scam, a police officer said today.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Madhya Pradesh Police has been investing into this scam.
SIT Chief and Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sampat Upadhyay today told reporters that on a tip off, the accused Balram Mali (44) was arrested from Tilakhera village of Mandsaur district.
Mali had reached home to celebrate Diwali, he said.
Earlier, he was hiding in the border areas of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Upadhyay said that Mali was an employee of liquor contractor Ansh Trivedi, who is the main accused of this scam. Mali was getting a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 from Trivedi's company - ATM Group.
He said that Mali is facing charges that he secured a liquor contract in year 2015-16 on behalf of Trivedi at Pigdambar area of Indore district.
In fact, Trivedi had done all the formalities and made the payment of installments for this contract. Police and Excise Department are conducting inquiry into 16 such contracts of Indore district including the one secured by Mali, said the official.
Upadhyay said that during last two years, the accused contractors deposited amounts lesser than what they were supposed to pay. They forged the challans and informed the Excise Department that they have deposited the actual contract amount. This fraud resulted in the loss of Rs 41.40-crore to the government exchequer.
So far, police have registered criminal cases against these 16 liquor contractors and their four associates.
Of these, four contractors and three of their colleagues have been arrested. The search for the remaining accused is still on.
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