A Special Court here on Tuesday sent former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's son, Chaitanya Baghel, to judicial custody for 14 days in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) presented Chaitanya Baghel in front of Raipur's Special Court following five days of interrogation. The ED had custody of him up until July 22, 2025. The court turned down ED's request to prolong his custodial interrogation despite reports of Chaitanya being at the center of suspected liquor scam during 2019-2022.
The agency has charged Chaitanya at the centre of money laundering with more than ₹1,000 crore in proceeds of the multi-year excise scam.
As per ED's remand papers and submissions, Chaitanya arranged the flow of huge amounts of cash through a chain of certain businessmen and political individuals. The ED also claims that part of the scam funds were invested in Chaitanya's real estate undertaking, Vitthal Green Project, run by Baghel Developers.
Also read: Bhupesh Baghel's son Chaitanya handled ₹1K cr in liquor scam: ED
Raids of the company's accountant showed financial discrepancies. Shortly after Chaitanya's arrest, ED made a statement which stated the investigation found that Baghel received ₹16.70 crore scam proceeds, purportedly laundered through his property businesses, including Vitthalpuram Project. He also apparently facilitated ₹1,000 crore worth of transactions with liquor syndicate members.
ED references banking trails and money transactions connected to Baghel and companions. A number of other people have been arrested. Investigation is underway. The arrest has triggered political uproar. As the probe progresses, the ED keeps investigating the money trail and real estate connections, and opposition leaders rally behind allegations of political vendetta.
ED launched investigation on the basis of FIR lodged by ACB/EOW, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, under different sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in the State of Chhattisgarh's liquor scam. Police probe has found that Chhattisgarh liquor scam caused huge loss to State Exchequer and lined the pockets of the beneficiaries with over ₹2500 crore of Proceeds of Crime (POC) that were earned out of commission of scheduled offences.
The case, which has already resulted in a series of arrests as well as attachment of assets, is fast turning into one of the most politically sensitive corruption inquiries in recent times.
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