Ranchi: Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested IAS officer Vinay Chaubey in connection with the liquor scam case, officials said.
A Joint Commissioner of the Excise Department has also been arrested in connection with the case, they added.
Chaubey, who was the then Secretary of the Jharkhand Excise Department, had earlier been named in the case by the Chhattisgarh ACB in September 2024.
Based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chhattisgarh ACB, the Jharkhand ACB had initiated a preliminary enquiry (PE) to probe the matter.
Currently, Chaubey is serving as the Principal Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department and had previously held the post of Secretary to Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Along with IAS officer Vinay Chaubey, the ACB also arrested Gajendra Singh, Joint Commissioner of the Excise Department. Both have been sent to judicial custody till June 3 (15 days).
After their arrest, Advocate Devesh Ajmani said, “This morning, while Vijay Choubey was in his residential chamber, he was taken in for an investigation, thereafter, he was produced before the court and subsequently taken into custody. By filing an objection petition to this, we apprised the court that as per the settled principles of law by the Supreme Court, we were not given the grounds of arrest, we were never told as to what we were being charged for.”
“The court has taken note of all these things. We have also made sure that his health records are submitted before the court… There are two accused, one is Vinay Choubey, the other is Gajender Kumar Singh. They have been sent to 15 days’ custody,” he added.