RAIPUR:

Retired IAS officers Alok Shukla and Anil Tuteja, accused in Chhattisgarh’s high-profile Nagarik Apoorti Nigam of the public distribution system scam, surrendered before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) court in Raipur on Monday. Following the surrender, the court granted the ED’s plea for 28-day custodial interrogation, sending both officers to the agency’s Delhi head office where they will be questioned till October 16

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Former IAS Alok Shukla had been attempting to surrender before the ED court in Raipur for the past five days, with repeated adjournments. On Monday, Shukla appeared for the third time and was allowed to formally surrender in the presence of ED officials. Security was tight outside the courtroom with CRPF personnel deployed.Tuteja, who was brought on a production warrant by ED, also surrendered before the court, where the ED sought and obtained a production warrant, paving the way for both officers to be remanded to ED custody.The case was taken up in the ED’s special court following a Supreme Court order that cancelled their anticipatory bail. Earlier, on September 18, Shukla had appeared in court but was denied surrender, as the apex court’s order was not uploaded. He returned on September 19, but the hearing was postponed after ED’s counsel failed to present the case diary.The two officers, both of whom held key posts in the state’s food and civil supplies sector, have been accused of playing central roles in the alleged multi-crore scam that surfaced in 2015.The development comes after the Supreme Court overturned the anticipatory bail, granted to the officers by the High Court in 2019. The court had directed that both Shukla and Tuteja be kept in ED custody for two weeks, followed by two weeks of judicial custody, before bail could be considered. The court had observed that the accused had attempted to influence the probe into the 2015 scam and granted ED three months, and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) two months, to complete investigations.The NAN scam surfaced in February 2015 during the BJP govt in state, when the ACB/EOW conducted raids at the corporation’s headquarters in Raipur and 28 other premises. Raids unearthed over Rs 3.6 crore in cash, poor-quality food grains, and incriminating documents. Investigators alleged that officials colluded with rice millers, accepting substandard rice and pocketing crores in bribes. Initially, 27 people were charge-sheeted, including managers and middlemen, before the probe expanded to include senior IAS officers.Shukla, a doctor-turned-bureaucrat, was then serving as Food Department Secretary, while Tuteja was the Managing Director of NAN. After receiving anticipatory bail, both officers went on to hold influential postings under Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government. Investigators allege that during this period, the probe was deliberately obstructed.