Raipur: The court has ordered to send Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, accused in Chhattisgarh’s much-talked-about liquor scam, on custodial remand of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). After hearing on Tuesday, the special court approved the application of ED and sent Chaitanya on a 5-day custodial remand. Now ED will interrogate him till August 23.
Earlier on Monday, he was produced in the court after the completion of his 14-day judicial remand. During that time, the court had sent him to jail on a one-day judicial remand. Also, ED had demanded to take Chaitanya in custody and interrogate him, on which the hearing was held on Tuesday.
The ED had argued in the court that new facts have emerged during the investigation and it is necessary to question Chaitanya Baghel. The court accepted this argument and sent him on a 5-day remand.
ED arrested Chaitanya Baghel on his birthday
According to the information given in the press note by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Raipur Zonal Office on July 21, the ED has arrested Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, from Bhilai residence on his birthday, July 18, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The ED had started the investigation of the liquor scam on the basis of an FIR registered by ACB / EOW Raipur under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the state treasury suffered huge losses due to this scam and illegal earnings (POC) of about Rs 2,500 crore were transferred to the pockets of the beneficiaries associated with the scam.
ED investigation has revealed that Chaitanya Baghel had received POC of Rs 16.70 crore. He had used his real estate firms to launder the said POC. It is revealed that he had used the said cash amount of POC in the development of his real estate project. The POC was used by way of cash payments to the contractor of his project, bank entries against the cash, etc. He also colluded with Trilok Singh Dhillon and used his companies to devise a scheme according to which he indirectly received Rs 5 crore under the guise of purchase of flats in his “Vitthalpuram Project” in the name of employees of Trilok Singh Dhillon. There is a banking trail which indicates that during the relevant period of the transactions, Trilok Singh Dhillon received payments from the liquor syndicate in his bank accounts.
Operating illegal assets worth more than 1000 crores
Apart from this, he is also accused of handling POC of more than Rs 1000 crore generated from the liquor scam. He used to coordinate with Anwar Dhebar and others to transfer the POC to the then treasurer of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee. The investigation conducted by ED has revealed that the funds obtained from this liquor scam were also handed over to key associates of the Baghel family for further investment. The end use of this money is being further investigated.
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