NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.
According to officials, the investigating agency raided Baghel’s residences in Raipur and Bhilai, as well as the residential premises of a senior police officer and a close associate of the former chief minister.
Reacting to the raids, Baghel suggested that the actions were taken to prevent him from attending a key Congress meeting scheduled for April 8 and 9 in Ahmedabad.
Taking to X, Baghel said, “Now the CBI has arrived. Today, former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is scheduled to travel to Delhi for a meeting of the ‘Drafting Committee’ formed for the AICC meeting to be held in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on the upcoming 8th and 9th of April.”
“Even before that, the CBI has already reached his residences in Raipur and Bhilai,” he added.
This comes days after the Enforcement Directorate raided Baghel’s residence in connection with an alleged liquor scam.
The central investigating agency seized approximately Rs 30 lakh in cash, using a counting machine, at the former chief minister’s residence.
The probe was linked to an alleged liquor scam that the central agency believes caused a “massive loss” to the state exchequer. Authorities claim that those involved in the liquor syndicate had siphoned off around Rs 2,161 crore through various schemes.
The ED investigation so far has revealed that the liquor syndicate operated between 2019 and 2022, generating a large amount of illegal commissions through multiple methods. One of the ways was to collect bribes from the distillers for each liquor ‘case’ procured by the state liquor body.
The alleged scam also involved the sale of country liquor from state-run shops, which remained entirely unaccounted for. The ED believes that not a single rupee reached the state exchequer, with all the money pocketed by the syndicate suspects.