The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday said it has arrested a 'liquor mafia' of Assam in connection with a money laundering case.
The central agency said in a statement that it arrested Rajesh Kumar Jalan on Wednesday under a criminal section of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was "intimidating" the witnesses who were coming for interrogation in the case and that he was not cooperating in the probe.
It said Jalan was the "mastermind" behind an alleged liquor scam which was executed by illegally transporting liquor boxes from a warehouse on the basis of forged documents between 2012-15.
"An amount of Rs 19.86 crore as excise revenue and over Rs 21.86 as VAT have been misappropriated by Jalan in connivance with Excise department officials. Jalan was arrested by the state CID in December, 2016 in this case and later was charge sheeted. Several Excise officials were also charge sheeted by the CID," the ED said.
It added that Jalan is a "very influential person and is known as liquor mafia in Assam."
He is a habitual offender and the Assam Police had also registered a case against Jalan for adulteration in liquor, the agency said.
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