Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya held in liquor sale case; ex-CM hits back

Chaitanya Baghel was taken into custody by the ED under PMLA following fresh early morning raids conducted at his residence in Bhilai town of Durg district

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Chaitanya Baghel, son of senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with irregularities in the sale of liquor at state-run outlets during the latter’s tenure as chief minister between 2019 and 2022.

According to ED’s remand application, Chaitanya Baghel allegedly received ₹16.70 crore in proceeds of crime through two firms linked to him (PTI)

Chaitanya was taken into custody by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following fresh early morning raids conducted at his residence in Bhilai town of Durg district. The central agency produced him in the court of Special Judge (Prevention of Money Laundering Act-PMLA), which granted his custodial remand to the ED till July 22.

Following the ED action, Bhupesh Baghel alleged that central agencies were being misused to target opposition leaders, but that he trusted the judiciary and would cooperate with them. Congress MLAs boycotted the proceedings of the state assembly for the day as a mark of protest against the arrest and accused the agency of trying to harass the opposition.

According to ED’s remand application, Chaitanya allegedly received ₹16.70 crore in proceeds of crime through two firms linked to him, with ₹5 crore routed via M/s Saheli Jewellers. Of this, ₹4.5 crore remains unpaid and interest-free, which the agency said suggests that the transaction was a front for laundering illicit cash.

The ED said that Chaitanya was instrumental in diverting money from the liquor scam into real estate through benami transactions and under-reported investments.

In particular, the agency highlighted financial irregularities in the “Vitthal Green” project of M/s Baghel Developers, owned by Chaitanya.

Businessman Trilok Singh Dhillon is also under the ED scanner for allegedly routing ₹5 crore to Baghel Developers in the name of purchasing 19 flats booked under his employees’ names, said the ED remand note. The employees, in their statements, said they acted as name-lenders, and the agency has alleged that this arrangement was used to obscure Chaitanya, who was the real beneficiary.

The agency cited statements by Laxmi Narayan Bansal alias Pappu, who reportedly said that he laundered over ₹1,000 crore in cash proceeds from the scam.

“Bansal said he worked in coordination with Chaitanya Baghel and routed money to individuals such as Ram Gopal Agarwal and KK Srivastava. He also confirmed that Dhillon served as a conduit to inject illicit funds into Baghel’s firms,” the remand note said.

Other firms and associates, including Saheli Jewellers and entities linked to Raipur’s City Mall, are also under ED scrutiny for allegedly investing large sums into Chaitanya’s projects without any financial rationale, suggesting laundering of black money, it added.

The agency said that Chaitanya acquired, transferred, and projected illicit funds as legitimate, qualifying as money laundering under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA.

The agency further said that it was compelled to arrested him as Chaitanya “evaded questions or gave misleading replies”. “Despite being given multiple opportunities, Chaitanya Baghel adopted a willfully non-cooperative attitude,” ED said.

The alleged liquor scam in the state, according to officials, involved the illegal sale of approximately unaccounted and duty-evaded liquor worth ₹2,174 crore through state-run liquor outlets, under the protection and coordination of senior excise officials.

The ED has alleged that the “scam” resulted in a “massive loss” to the state exchequer and benefitted a liquor syndicate to the tune of over ₹2,100 crore.

Assets worth about ₹205 crore of various accused have been attached by the ED as part of this investigation so far, according to the agency.

Chaitanya’s lawyer Faisal Rizvi has, however, challenged the legality of the arrest.

“Since the ED began investigating the alleged liquor scam in 2022, it has filed one main and three supplementary prosecution complaints — and Chaitanya’s name appears in none of them,” he said.

The central agency has never recorded Chaitanya’s statement, nor issued summons to him before a raid conducted on March 10 this year, Rizvi said. “The arrest is based entirely on a statement given by Laxmi Narayan Bansal after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him on May 16,” he said.

He further questioned the motive behind the arrest.

“Chaitanya was never questioned by the ED to verify or respond to Bansal’s claims. The ED and state Anti-Corruption Bureau used coercion, and based solely on that, the agency has acted,” he alleged, calling the move “politically motivated”.

The federal probe agency had earlier conducted raids against Chaitanya on March 10.

After his son was remanded to the ED custody, Bhupesh Baghel claimed that the action against his son clearly shows that if anyone opposes the Adani group in Chhattisgarh, they will meet the same fate as Chaitanya.

“From March 10 till today, not even a single notice was served to Chaitanya. Not even a single inquiry was conducted and today they directly brought a search warrant to the house and arrested him. Is there no rule of law?,” he told reporters.

The action was taken after the Congress raised the issue of tree felling in Tamnar area (of Raigarh district for a coal mine project), he said.

Today itself, the leader of opposition Charan Das Mahant moved an adjournment motion in the assembly seeking a discussion into it and to suppress this, such action has been taken, Baghel said.

The ED in January arrested former minister and Congress leader Kawasi Lakhma besides Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi and some others as part of their investigations in the case.

The EOW/ACB registered the FIR on January 17 last year, about a month after the BJP defeated the Congress in the 2023 assembly polls, and named 70 individuals and companies, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, former chief secretary Vivek Dhand and others.

According to the ED, the alleged commission generated through the illegal sale of liquor was shared “as per the directions from the highest political executives of the state”.

The Supreme Court had quashed the ED’s first ECIR in the matter last year, which was based on a tax department complaint. A fresh probe began in January 2024, following a new FIR by the state’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), naming 70 people and entities.