[NAN scam] Chhattisgarh contests ED version; claims Chief Minister never met any High Court judge

The Chhattisgarh government on Thursday vehemently denied the claim of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the Chief Minister of the State had met a Chhattisgarh High Court judge in connection with Nagrik Apurti Nigam scam (NAN scam)..Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the State, said that the argument by ED was false."No Chhattisgarh High Court judge met the State Chief Minister. Not at all," Sibal said.A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit and Justices Ajay Rastogi and S Ravindra Bhat, however, noted that the hearing in the matter might not be over before the retirement of CJI Lalit. Hence, the bench release the matter from its board with diorections to list in the third week of November after obtaining instructions from the next CJI."Registry is directed to list the matter in week commencing November 14, 2022 after directions from the CJI. The sealed cover documents shall be re-sealed," the Court directed..The multi-crore Public Distribution System scam from Chhattisgarh known as NAN scam came to light in 2015 when Economic Offences Investigation (EOI) and Anti-corruption Bureau, Raipur, Chhattisgarh conducted raids on February 12, 2015 in different district offices and residents of the officers of Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation and Chhattisgarh State Warehousing Corporation including its headquarters at Raipur and had registered a case against the officers of the corporation.Those involved have been accused of supplying low quality rice, grams, salt etc.The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case in connection with the scam against two IAS officers.It then moved the present plea seeking transfer of trial from Chhattisgarh alleging that a senior functionary of the government has been trying to weaken the predicate offence against the accused..The ED in its counter affidavit had alleged that the accused persons were in touch with a Chhattisgarh High Court judge through Constitutional functionaries who were helping the accused.During one of the hearings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that WhatsApp chats revealed connivance between accused IAS officers and those holding Constitutional posts."These highly placed officers in connivance with authorities in constitutional posts took advantage. I have not mentioned names. But I have WhatsApp chats. We have not revealed names so that faith of people is not shaken upon system," Mehta had said.During the last hearing, Mehta had alleged that the Chief Minister had met a Chhattisgarh High Court judge. .When the matter was taken up today, Sibal contested the contested that claim."We took instructions. The Chief Minister never met any High Court judge," Sibal contended."I only read a Whatsapp chat where a close...." Mehta sought to respond.However, the bench made it clear that it will not hear the case any further.