ED searches Baghel, son’s premises in Chhattisgarh booze scam | India News

Bhupesh Baghel (PTI picture)

RAIPUR: ED on Monday searched the premises of former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel as an extension of the probe in opposition to his son Chaitanya in an alleged liquor scam and cash laundering case of Rs 2,161 crore.
ED groups arrived at 14 places in Durg district, together with Baghel’s home in Padumnagar, early morning. A cash-counting machine was taken into the home by ED officers throughout the search, officers stated.
The company issued a press release saying searches had been carried out underneath Prevention of Money Laundering Act at premises associated to Baghel, Chaitanya and shut affiliate Laxmi Narayan Bansal alias Pappu Bansal. “ED has gathered that Chaitanya is also the recipient of proceeds of crime generated from the liquor scam, wherein the total proceeds of crime are around Rs 2,161 crore, siphoned off through various schemes,” ED stated.
The company stated searches had been carried out at Baghel’s Bhilai residence since Chaitanya stays along with his father and he’s suspected to be linked with the alleged liquor scam that ED says prompted “massive loss to state exchequer and filled pockets of beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate”.
ED, which has connected belongings price Rs 205 crore as a part of its probe thus far, stated the scam was carried out between 2019 and 2022 throughout Baghel’s tenure as CM.
After ED officers left, Baghel stepped out of the home and stated, “They found three things in my house — a pen drive containing conversations about multi-crore transactions between Manturam and Puneet Gupta (son-in-law of former CM Raman Singh), documents related to a shell company owned by Abhishek Singh (Raman Singh’s son), and Rs 33 lakh in cash from family farming, dairy business, women’s jewellery and cash in hand, for which an accounting record will be provided.” Baghel didn’t specify who’s Manturam. ED officers had been unable to supply an ECIR (enforcement case data report) quantity, Baghel added.
The searches sparked a row, with Congress members making a din in meeting, and accusing BJP govt of utilizing ED to settle private scores.