Hours after Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, was arrested Friday by the ED on charges of money laundering in connection with the liquor scam, the Congress on Friday called it “political vendetta and witch-hunt of the worst kind”.
In a statement, Chairperson of the Congress Social Media and Digital Platforms Supriya Shrinate said: “I believe that the political vendetta and witchhunt happening in India is of the worst kind. The law will take its course. Nor Bhupesh Baghel nor his family will be intimidated by these fabricated and false charges.”
Reacting to the development during a press briefing at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil said: “After such a long time, when they fail to target the leader, they start targeting the family members to do emotional blackmailing. I am confident that Bhupesh Baghel won’t bow down. We have faith in the judiciary.”
As per the ED, the alleged scam involved a syndicate of senior state bureaucrats, politicians, and excise department officials who are accused of running a “parallel” excise department, wherein liquor was sold to the public, but no money came to the state exchequer, causing the government a loss of around Rs 2,161 crore. It is alleged to have taken place between 2019 to 2022, during the previous Congress government in Chhattisgarh that was helmed by Baghel.
Around 7 am on Friday, the ED began searches at the Baghel residence at Bhilai city in Durg district. At around noon, the agency arrested Chaitanya. He was subsequently produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur and remanded to ED custody for five days.
Bhupesh Baghel claimed that the ED action Friday was an attempt to prevent him from raising in the Assembly the issue of trees being felled for a coal mine project by the Adani Group in the Tamnar tehsil of Raigarh district.
