Chhattisgarh: On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate filed a petition with the Supreme Court in connection with the alleged Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam, requesting a retrial outside of Chhattisgarh and a transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In the new writ petition, the Supreme Court has issued notices to 20 respondents, including the CBI, the state government, and the two main accused – IAS officer Anil Kumar Tuteja and retired IAS officer Alok Shukla, both of whom hold key positions in the state government and has asked them to respond within 10 days.
The ED argued that the evidence was insufficient and that the case should be handed over to the CBI and a retrial undertaken under Article 32 – remedies for enforcement of rights. They claimed the evidence “clearly reveals the nature of the misuse of power in the State of Chhattisgarh, the tampering of evidence and influencing the witnesses going on and a potential conspiracy involving constitutional functionaries also”.
The alleged NAN scam first surfaced in 2015, when the Opposition accused the former BJP government in Chhattisgarh of corruption in the Public Distribution System (PDS), which had been touted as a model for other states until then. In 2015, the then-BJP administration was accused of accepting payments from rice millers and agents in exchange for allowing inferior rice to be delivered through the state’s public distribution system. NAN is responsible for grain distribution and purchase.