In 2015, when the BJP was in energy in Chhattisgarh and Dr Raman Singh was the Chief Minister, Congress had alleged that the federal government was distributing sub-standard high quality grains below the PDS and that officers had acquired kickbacks from rice millers to permit this. The Nagrik Apurti Nigam is the nodal company in Chhattisgarh chargeable for procuring and distributing meals grains below PDS. The BJP authorities had launched a probe into what got here to be often called the NAN rip-off and subsequently, 27 individuals have been booked by the BJP govt – Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla being the prime accused. ACB later began a cash laundering probe as effectively and a chargesheet was filed in 2015. After this, Congress got here to energy in Chhattisgarh.
What transpired in Chhattisgarh after the Bhupesh Baghel authorities took reign was corruption with impunity, a coordinated marketing campaign to avoid wasting the first accused, Anil Tuteja, within the NAN rip-off and an try to make use of IPS officers, the Judiciary and different means on the authorities’s disposal to Ex-Chief Minister, Raman Singh and his members of the family, former Precept Secretary Aman Singh and his spouse Yasmeen Singh, Former DG (Police) Mukesh Gupta, Ashok Chaturvedi and Chintamani Chandrakar, utilizing fabricated proof, coercion of witnesses and different extra-judicial means. After Bhupesh Baghel took the reigns, an SIT was fashioned to probe the rip-off as a result of the prime accused, Anil Tuteja, had alleged that the investigation was unfair. Since then, varied items of proof have come to the fore, proving that Bhupesh Baghel was personally shielding the prime accused, Anil Tuteja, and was as a substitute making an attempt to implicate Raman Singh within the rip-off. In 2020, Tuteja received bail and instantly, he was appointed by the Baghel govt once more. Tuteja was the Joint Secretary for Commerce and Industries and Shukla grew to become the Principal Secretary answerable for Training and different departments.
OpIndia has accessed Whatsapp chats of Anil Tuteja-IAS Officer, presently Joint Secretary Industries and his Son Yash Tuteja, which was retrieved by Revenue Tax consequent to its raids performed in Chhattisgarh, whereby his cell phone was seized in February 2020. These Whatsapp chats now in possession of OpIndia include the messages exchanged between the Tutejas and senior IPS officers within the State specifically, SRP Kalluri, Kalyan Elesela, G.P Singh and Arif Sheikh. The chats clearly show that all the felony justice supply system within the State is being abused, misused and mutilated on the behest of Anil Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja. An in depth story about what the chats entailed was revealed by OpIndia on the 18th of January 2023. The story can be read here.
The Enforcement Directorate in 2020 had filed a Particular Go away Software within the Supreme Court docket of India towards the anticipatory bail granted to Anil Tuteja. Within the SLP, the ED spoke at size concerning the WhatsApp conversations that the Revenue Tax Division had accessed, most of which have been submitted to the courtroom in a sealed envelope and a few others have been accessed by OpIndia. The ED instructed SC that each the principle accused, Tuteja and Shukla, in connivance with successive chiefs of EOW-ACB, Chhattisgarh, one senior Excessive Court docket officer, members of the SIT and with the “intervention of the Chief Minister” has “weakened the offence of corruption towards them by procuring beneficial experiences from the stated prosecuting company and SIT by actively influencing and threatening witnesses of the predicate offences in addition to the offences of cash laundering.
G.P Singh, the ADG who succeeded SRP Kaluri as head of EOW/ACB, who was additionally colluding with Tuteja and Shukla on the behest of CM Bhupesh Baghel, approached the Supreme Court docket of India on the twenty second of December 2022, detailing how he was pressurised by Bhupesh Baghel to implicate Raman Singh, Mukesh Gupta, Aman Singh and a number of other others within the NAN rip-off, save Anil Tuteja within the rip-off and in addition report the investigation particulars to Tuteja.
GP Singh in his petition says that he was known as to fulfill Bhupesh Baghel twice, as soon as on the 14th of September 2019 and as soon as on the tenth of Might 2020. In each these conferences, he was particularly requested to implicate Baghel’s political opponents and was threatened with penalties if he failed. He additionally talked about that he was handed a “hit listing” by Bhupesh Baghel himself, and that hit listing was connected as an annexure to his petition.
Whereas the chats that OpIndia accessed and reported on earlier itself reveal the conspiracy, substantiating the ‘hit listing’ that GP Singh had connected in his petition, OpIndia has now perused extra proof of the collusion and subversion of the felony justice system that was underway in Chhattisgarh. Within the chats that OpIndia had accessed, there have been a number of paperwork that have been exchanged between the IPS officers and Anil Tuteja. These attachments and another paperwork that have been recovered from Tuteja’s telephone additional substantiate the ‘hit listing’ that GP Singh was handed by Bhupesh Baghel.
How the accused and his son (Anil Tuteja and Yash Tuteja) have been writing the Standing Report that EOW was purported to undergo HC towards them
Within the Whatsapp chat that OpIndia accessed, one chat, specifically, caught our consideration. On the sixteenth of February 2019, Yash Tuteja (Anil Tuteja’s son) despatched a message to IPS officer Kalyan Elesela, SP of EOW (the division that was meant to analyze Anil Tuteja within the NAN rip-off).
Within the message, Yash Tuteja was seen sharing the draft of the Standing Report (that EOW was to file to the Excessive Court docket, after investigation Anil Tuteja within the NAN rip-off) with Kalyan Elesela.
It’s imperitive to interrupt down the message despatched by Yash Tuteja to know what was taking place on the time. Within the message, Yash begins with “As mentioned within the convention, please be aware the next sequence for the standing report” and after writing the draft of the Standing Report, he indicators off utilizing the identify of “Dayan Krishnan, Senior Advocate”.
Primarily, there was a convention name the place one can assume from the chats that a minimum of the Tutejas, Dayan Krishnan and Kalyan Elesela have been current, discussing the standing report that EOW was to file to the Excessive Court docket. Dayan Krishnan is a senior Excessive Court docket lawyer who was representing the ACB-EOW within the NAN rip-off on behalf of the Chhattisgarh authorities (Bhupesh Baghel).
After the convention name, Dayan Krishnan, representing the division meant to analyze Anil Tuteja, shares a draft of the Standing Report back to be filed within the Excessive Court docket with Yash Tuteja. We will assume this primarily based on the truth that Yash Tuteja shares an edited draft with Kalyan signed off as Dayan Krishnan. Since we don’t have entry to all of the chats, at this level, this will solely be an informed guess. Yash Tuteja then makes amendments to the draft and sends it to Kalyan – the SP of EOW – because the report back to be filed within the Excessive Court docket. One, subsequently, has to ask the query of whether or not the lawyer representing ACB was first sharing the draft with the prime accused within the NAN rip-off (not the division), who was, in flip, making amendments and sharing the edited draft with the SP of the EOW, which was meant to be investigating him.
The truth that it was Yash Tuteja’s draft of the Standing Report that was being utilized by the EOW-ACB is additional substantiated by the truth that a day later, on the seventeenth of February 2019, Kalyan Elesela despatched an replace Standing Report draft with Yash Tuteja over Whatsapp chat (the chats accessed by OpIndia).
From the paperwork that at the moment are within the possession of OpIndia which were recovered from Anil Tuteja’s telephone, the doc exchanged right here bearing the doc quantity 73ea6827-acf0-4712-9ba0-cc37cd5f757c is the ultimate Standing Report draft that Elesela shared with Yash Tuteja, which Yash Tuteja, in flip, shared with Anil Tuteja (because the similar doc was retrieved with Anil Tuteja’s telephone).
Curiously, one of many paperwork that have been recovered from Anil Tuteja’s telephone, a few of which OpIndia has entry to, is a listing of “duties” which can be to be completed.
This doc was shared with Anil Tuteja on the twenty first of February 2019. OpIndia can not affirm who shared this doc with Tuteja since this was recovered from his telephone however don’t make an look within the WhatsApp chats itself.
From this ‘process’ listing within the NAN case itself, it’s evident that the hitlist which was given to GP Singh is certainly genuine and there was energetic collusion to implicate Mukesh Gupta, Aman Singh, Raman Singh and others within the NAN rip-off. Within the ‘duties to perform’, there are specific key duties that stand out.
- File chargesheet towards Mukesh Gupta
- Correct reply in Aman Singh’s case was to be drafted – which was listed for listening to on the twenty seventh of February 2019.
This ‘process’ listing proves that there was certainly a concerted effort by authorities officers together with the accused within the NAN rip-off, Anil Tuteja, to implicate the individuals talked about in GP Singh’s ‘hitlist’, which was given to him by Bhupesh Baghel himself, based on his courtroom submission.
If one notices, one of many ‘duties’ to be completed is ‘getting approval from the Legislation Division to nominate Dayan Krishnan because the lawyer to defend ACB within the courtroom of regulation. If one recollects, there was a considerable uproar within the parliament about Bhupesh Baghel hiring a personal lawyer like Dayan Krishnan to avoid wasting Anil Tuteja. It was revealed on the time that Krishnan was paid Rs 80 lakhs for his stint. The chats have now demonstrated that Dayan Krishnan was certainly working in collusion with Anil Tuteja whereas representing the ACB-EOW within the NAN rip-off case.
In actual fact, one other doc that was recovered from the telephone of Anil Tuteja was an inner authorities doc that confirmed the hiring of Dayan Krishnan because the ACB lawyer.
There are a number of necessary facets that emerge from these revelations and paperwork discovered on Anil Tuteja’s telephone by the Revenue Tax division, that OpIndia has entry to and is perusing:
- The SIT constituted by Bhupesh Baghel below the ACB-EOW was meant to analyze the position of Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla within the NAN rip-off. Why was the SP of EOW and different officers of ACB-EOW sharing the developments of the case with the prime accused himself? GP Singh has revealed that he was particularly instructed by Bhupesh Baghel to share the investigation progress with Anil Tuteja.
- Dayan Krishnan is a senior lawyer engaged by the Bhupesh Baghel authorities to signify ACB – the division meant to analyze the position of Anil Tuteja within the NAN rip-off. Was Dayan Krishnan sharing the draft of the Standing Report of the investigation, that ACB was purported to file within the Excessive Court docket towards Anil Tuteja, with Yash Tuteja, Anil Tuteja’s son?
- After Dayan Krishnan presumably shared the draft with Yash Tuteja, Yash made edits to the Standing Report and despatched the identical to Kalyan Elesela – the SP of EOW, who in flip, presumably shared it with Dayan Krishnan (because the submitting was to be carried out by the lawyer). Was Dayan Krishnan additionally instructed by Bhupesh Baghel to work in tandem with Anil Tuteja to avoid wasting him whereas the SIT weakened the investigation?
- The federal government doc confirming the engagement of Dayan Krishnan was additionally recovered from the telephone of Anil Tuteja – Was Dayan Krishnan, representing the ACB, really on the payroll of Anil Tuteja, the prime accused that ACB was meant to be investigating?
- Why was a “process listing” which particularly talked about the hiring of Dayan Krishnan shared with Anil Tuteja? Was Dayan Krishnan employed as a result of he was prepared to do the bidding of Anil Tuteja whereas representing the ACB?
To additional substantiate that Dayan Krishnan, could have been employed to do the bidding of Anil Tuteja, one other chat that positive factors significance is one the place Kalyan Elesela was sending a duplicate of Dayan Krishnan’s air tickets to Yash Tuteja on the 18th of February 2019 – solely a day after the ultimate draft of the Standing Report was shared (as defined above).
It, subsequently, additionally turns into necessary to analyze why even the air tickets of the lawyer of ACB, have been being despatched by the SP of EOW to the prime accused who they have been supposed to analyze.
From this a part of the investigation by OpIndia, sure conclusions will be drawn with a good quantity of certainty:
- 1. The hitlist that GP Singh claimed was given to him by Bhupesh Baghel is certainly genuine as a number of different chats and paperwork, as defined on this article, show that the ACB, EOW, their lawyer and IPS officers of the state have been colluding with Anil Tuteja to implicate the protagonists talked about within the hit-list (Mukesh Gupta, Alok Shukla and others).
- 2. Raman Singh had insinuated that the lawyer of the ACB was employed on the behest of Anil Tuteja since he was prepared to do his bidding and save him within the investigation – this may very well be the case given the revelations on this article.
- 3. The complete investigation within the NAN rip-off, which was meant to analyze the position of Anil Tuteja, was being carried out on the behest of Tuteja himself.
- 4. The SIT that Bhupesh Baghel fashioned was carried out to avoid wasting Anil Tuteja and weaken the investigation in cohorts with Anil Tuteja after he was cost sheeted because the prime accused below the Raman Singh authorities in 2018.
- 5. The Excessive Court docket was wilfully misled by the Bhupesh Baghel authorities when a sham Standing Report was filed by the ACB which was drafted and edited by the accused himself. The query additionally is whether or not Dayan Krishnan was a willful participant within the sham.
- 6. It’s arduous to consider {that a} senior lawyer like Krishnan was unaware of the collusion that was going down between ACB/EOW and Tuteja. If he was certainly within the know, ought to he even be held answerable for deceptive the courtroom.
Whereas the NAN rip-off is elaborate, what is way extra elaborate is the extent to which the Bhupesh Baghel administration appears to have gone to not solely save the prime accused but additionally to implicate Raman Singh and others within the rip-off. As OpIndia stated earlier, the NAN rip-off is one case that reveals the extent of the rot {that a} system has been made to undergo – with cops, IAS officers, judges and politicians fabricating proof, weakening a case of corruption below investigation, coercing witnesses, threatening witnesses, shielding accused, perpetuating hawala transactions and extra. As we hold peeling again the layers of this rip-off and delving extra into the chats that OpIndia has accessed, we are going to proceed to pose follow-up inquiries to CM Bhupesh Baghel in our ‘The Chhattisgarh Recordsdata’ sequence.
In public curiosity, we now have made public all of the Whatsapp chats, attachment recordsdata and different recordsdata that have been recovered from Anil Tuteja’s telephone by the Revenue Tax Division. The parts of the chats that OpIndia has accessed are the elements that haven’t been submitted to the Supreme Court docket in a sealed envelope by the ED. The complete chats and recordsdata will be accessed right here – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KqlOtQ-1ty2eyghcUlg0FJ8rmkGYBpqm?usp=sharing
