The Allahabad high court has granted bail to former Chhattisgarh excise commissioner Niranjan Das in an FIR registered at Kasna police station in Gautam Buddh Nagar in connection with the alleged ₹2,161-crore Chhattisgarh liquor scam. The FIR was lodged under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, alleging cheating and forgery.
Event Context
Das, who was serving as the excise commissioner in Chhattisgarh, was allegedly involved in drafting the state’s excise policy and tender process. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a July 28, 2023 letter to the Uttar Pradesh government, alleged that Das framed a policy benefiting Noida-based M/s Prizm Holography Security Films Pvt Ltd, following which the FIR was registered at Kasna Police of Gautam Buddh Nagar.
Justice Vikram D Chauhan allowed Das’s bail application.
Granting bail in its order dated July 7, the court observed that criminal antecedents alone cannot be a ground to deny bail if an accused is otherwise entitled to the relief and no exceptional circumstances exist.
Reiterating that “bail is the rule and jail is an exception”, a principle recognised by the Supreme Court in the context of Article 21 of the Constitution, the bench said the state had failed to place any material on record to indicate that Das was likely to tamper with evidence, influence witnesses or otherwise misuse the liberty of bail.
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According to the prosecution, Das and other accused, including former special secretary (excise) Arunpati Tripathi, were involved in the tender process and in facilitating the manufacture and supply of holograms allegedly used in the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh.
Seeking bail, Das submitted that co-accused Arunpati Tripathi had already been granted bail in the case. He also argued that the allegations in the present FIR were part of the earlier FIR registered in Chhattisgarh, in which he had already secured bail from the Supreme Court.
Das, who has been in jail since December 19, 2025, said he would cooperate with the trial and would not misuse the liberty of bail if released.
Opposing the plea, the state government argued that Das had criminal antecedents and that multiple FIRs had been registered against him.
