ED arrests Chaitanya Baghel, son of Bhupesh Baghel, in liquor 'scam' linked money laundering case

Public Lokpal
July 18, 2025

RAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in liquor 'scam' linked money laundering case.

Earlier in the day, ED conducted searches at the premises of his son Chaitanya Baghel.

Baghel's home in Bhilai town of Durg district, which the father-son duo share, was raided by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following receipt of fresh evidence in the case, they said.

A heavy posse of police personnel was seen outside the house, even as some party supporters gathered.

The federal probe agency conducted similar raids against Chaitanya Baghel in March this year.

Bhupesh Baghel, a senior Congress leader, posted a message on X saying the ED has come to his home on the last day of the assembly session when the issue of trees being felled for a coal mine project of the Adani group in Tamnar tehsil of Raigarh district was to be raised.

The senior Baghel, earlier this month, visited the tehsil and extended support to local villagers who have been protesting against tree felling for a coal mine project in the area.

The mine is allotted to Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MAHAGENCO), which has contracted the MDO (mine developer cum operator) to the Adani group.

The ED earlier said Chaitanya Baghel was suspected to be the "recipient" of the proceeds of crime of the alleged liquor scam.

It has said the Chhattisgarh liquor "scam" resulted in a "massive loss" to the state exchequer and filled the pockets of the beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate with more than Rs 2,100 crore of proceeds of crime.

In this case, 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 this investigation.

The alleged liquor scam in the central Indian state, as per the ED, was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was governed by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.

Assets worth about Rs 205 crore of various accused have been attached by the agency as part of this investigation so far.

In 2024, the Supreme Court quashed the ED's first ECIR (FIR) in this case, which was based on a complaint from the Income Tax Department.

The federal agency later filed a fresh case after it asked the Chhattisgarh EOW/ACB to file a fresh FIR against the accused based on material shared by the anti-money laundering agency.

The EOW/ACB registered the FIR on January 17 last year, about a month after the BJP defeated the incumbent Congress government 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."

PTI