Chaitanya Baghel, the son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, received between Rs 200 and Rs 250 crore as his share from the liquor scam in the state. The disclosure was made in chargesheet of the Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing (ACB/EOW) on 22nd December.
A special court received the seventh supplementary chargesheet in the multi-crore liquor scam from the state police’s ACB/EOW. According to the report, Chaitanya was instrumental in setting up, organising and protecting an extortion racket within the excise department when the Congress was in power between 2018–2023.
The 3,800-page document named him as an accused in the over 3,000 crore scandal taking the total number of chargesheets to eight in the case. The fresh submission includes the current state of the investigation against the accused who have previously been taken into custody alongside digital evidence reports ragarding them.
According to the chargesheet, Chaitanya served as a coordinator for officials like Anil Tuteja, Soumya Chaurasia, Arunpati Tripathi and Niranjan Das who supported the syndicate’s objectives at the administrative level and as ground-level network members including Anwar Dhebar, Arvind Singh and Vikas Agarwal who are all co-accused in the matter.
Chaitanya moved the money to higher levels by managing and transferring the proceeds that businessman Anwar Dhebar’s team had accumulated. The former used his trusted accomplices for this work. “Evidence indicates that Chaitanya, along with managing the proceeds of crime at a higher level, received around 200 crore-250 crore as his share,” the agency outlined.
The inquiry also showed that Chaitanya’s influence, policy and administrative intervention as well as high-level protection allowed this crime to be committed. The authorities menitoned, “The ongoing investigation suggests the amount involved in the liquor scam is estimated to be approximately 3,074 crore, further investigation suggests the total amount of the proceeds of crime generated out of the alleged scam could exceed 3,500 crore.”
Chaitanya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on 18th July during a search of his home, which he shares with his father, in Bhilai town of Durg district. The ED was looking into the money laundering aspect of the scam. The ACB/EOW arrested Chaitanya in September while he was in judicial custody.
The ED already arrested former excise minister and Congressman Kawasi Lakhma, businessman Anwar Dhebar who is brother of Congress leader and former Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer Arunpati Tripathi, among others in January.
On 17th January 2024, the EOW/ACB lodged a formal complaint in relation to the scam, identifying 70 people and businesses, including Lakhma and former chief secretary Vivek Dhand.
Chaitanya “handled” more than 1000 crore in “proceeds of crime” from a liquor “scam” in the state, according to the ED’s prosecution case that was previously submitted. According to the central agency, the scam enriched the beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate while causing a “massive loss” to the state exchequer.
The scam was planned between 2019 and 2022 when Congress government was led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The money was “illegally” taken from “every” bottle of alcohol sold in Chhattisgarh between 2019 and 2022.
