Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s son, Chaitanya Baghel, has been arrested once more in connection with the multi-crore liquor scam that has rocked the state.
The arrest was carried out by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which are jointly probing the case. Along with Chaitanya, another accused, Dipen Chawda, was also taken into custody.
Chaitanya has been in judicial custody since July 18 following an earlier arrest by the Enforcement Directorate after a search at his Bhilai residence, which he shares with his father.
Defence Calls Arrest a Pressure Tactic
Chaitanya’s lawyer, Faisal Rizvi, slammed the latest move, calling it a misuse of power. “This arrest is nothing more than a pressure tactic without any concrete evidence,” he said.
Rizvi stressed that despite the ACB and EOW filing several chargesheets, Chaitanya’s name has not appeared in any of them. “In the main and supplementary chargesheets so far, around 45 people were named. Yet, Chaitanya has not been listed as an accused,” he argued.
He also highlighted that out of those 45 individuals, 29 have not faced arrest till date. According to him, Chaitanya’s arrest rests solely on the statement of co-accused Laxmi Narayan Bansal, who alleged that Chaitanya was linked to nearly ₹1,000 crore in proceeds of crime. Interestingly, the same court has already issued a warrant against Bansal.
Wider Liquor Scam Investigation
The case stems from an FIR registered by the ACB and EOW on January 17, which named 70 individuals and entities. Among them were prominent political and bureaucratic figures, including former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma and ex-chief secretary Vivek Dhand.
According to the ED, the alleged liquor syndicate operated on 3 fronts:
- Collecting commissions from legal liquor sales,
- Profiting from illegal and unaccounted liquor,
- Forcing distillers to pay bribes to form a cartel that monopolized the state’s liquor trade.
The agency further claimed that a large share of these proceeds was funneled to individuals linked with the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC), which was the ruling party at the time.
High-Profile Arrests So Far
The liquor scam probe has already led to the arrest of several senior figures. These include:
- Congress MLA and former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma
- Businessman Anwar Dhebar
- Former IAS officer Anil Tuteja
- ITS officer Arunpati Tripathi
Read More: Supreme Court, Delhi High Court, States High Court, International
