ED Arrests Ex-Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel’s Son Chaitanya

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrests Chaitnya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. The probe agency searched their house in Bhilai in connection with an alleged liquor scam case.

Chaitnya's Birthday happen to be on the same day as the ED raids followed by arrest, i.e. July 18. This was the second time ED officials searched the house this year. The Congress MLA referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, calling the action ‘gifts’ on his son’s birthday.

In a post in Hindi on X, Baghel said, “The kind of birthday gift that Modi and Shah ji give, no one else in any democracy in the world can give. On my birthday, both highly respected leaders sent ED to the homes of my advisor and two OSDs. And now, on my son Chaitanya’s birthday, an ED team is raiding my house. Thank you for these gifts. They will be remembered for a lifetime.”

Bhupesh Baghel claimed that this was done to prevent him from raising the issue, in the Assembly session, of trees being felled for a coal mine project by the Adani Group in the Tamnar tehsil of the state’s Raigarh district.

Soon after ED officials stepped inside Baghel’s Bhilai residence earlier today, where his son Chaitanya also lives, his office posted in Hindi on X, “ED has arrived. Today is the last day of the Assembly session. The issue of trees being cut in Tamnar for Adani was supposed to be raised today. At Bhilai Niwas (residence), Saheb (sir) has sent ED.

All Congress MLAs including Baghel boycotted the Assembly proceedings this morning, in the wake of Chaitanya’s arrest. “The way ED is putting pressure to harass Baghel and on us its important to talk about it. They have arrested Chaitanya. We oppose it and we boycott the proceedings,” Leader of Opposition Charan Das Mahant said as all Congress MLAs walked out of the assembly shouting a slogan: “Ek pedh Maa ke naam baki sab Baap ke naam (One tree in mother’s name and remaining all in father’s name).

The issue of trees being cut in Tamnar for Adani was supposed to be raised today. At Bhilai Niwas (residence), Saheb (sir) has sent ED."

Later, while speaking to reporters outside his Bhilai house, Bhupesh Baghel said, “To please their master (Adani), Modi and Shah have sent the ED to my house. We are neither going to get scared nor bow down. We will fight this. They can put as much pressure as they want, but Bhupesh Baghel will not be scared and will not bow down. On one hand, in Bihar, with the help of the Election Commission, voters are being removed (from the voters list), and democracy is being stripped.

“On the other hand, they are using ED, IT, CBI, and DRI, which are being misused to suppress Opposition leaders. However, our country’s people are now well aware. ED has come in the past as well and raided my place and found Rs 33 lakh in my house. Now they have come again. What does this mean? We will fully cooperate, regardless of whether they trust us or not; we believe in democracy and the judiciary. They (BJP) are misusing the agency, but we will cooperate with them.”

The first raid was conducted on March 10. Previously, ED arrested former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma in connection with the case.

Earlier this month, Baghel visited Tamnar to support the protest by tribal villagers against tree cutting. 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.

According to ED, which is investigating the money laundering aspect of the alleged liquor scam, it reportedly took place during the tenure of the then Bhupesh Baghel government. The agency stated that the alleged scam is a syndicate of senior state bureaucrats, politicians, and excise department officials, who have been accused of running a “parallel” excise department, wherein liquor was sold to the public, but no money was deposited into the state exchequer, resulting in a loss of Rs 2,161 crore to the government.

The state Economic Offences Wing, which is probing the crime aspect of the reported liquor scam, recently pegged it at Rs 3,200 crore and chargesheeted 22 excise department officials.

In January last year, ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against alleged mastermind of the liquor scam, Anwar Dhebar, who is the brother of former Raipur mayor Aijaz Dhebar; retired IAS officer Anil Tuteja, then joint secretary in Chhattisgarh; ITS Arun Pati Tripathi, then special secretary, Commerce and Industry Department; and MD, CG State Marketing Corporation Ltd, among others.

The Central agency has arrested Dhebar, Tuteja, and Tripathi in the case.