Raipur: Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday reacting over the first information report (FIR) registered against him in the Mahadev App betting scam by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), said that the case is purely political and his name was added forcefully by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.
Addressing a press conference in Raipur on Sunday Baghel said, “The FIR against me was lodged on March 4 by the EOW then why was it not published on the EOW website till now? My name was later added after being pressured. This means the BJP fear losing Rajnandgaon seat and Chhattisgarh because they know my candidature will have an impact across the state,” said Baghel.
He said that it was his government which took action against such betting apps in the past. The Congress government lodged 72 FIRs in connection with the Mahadev betting App, and arrested over 450 people in Chhattisgarh and across the country, he said.
The former chief minister claimed that not only in Rajnandgaon, but the BJP will suffer losses in the entire state due to his contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
“We also wrote to Google to close Mahadev App but there are a lot of betting apps that are still active. BJP has been in power for four months in Chhattisgarh and for the last 10 years in the Centre, what are they doing?” said Baghel.
He alleged that the BJP does not want to arrest the real culprits. “Shubham Soni gave a response in the presence of the consulate general, why wasn’t he arrested then?… Why aren’t those accused being brought back to India?” he questioned.
He further said that more than 200 ATM cards were seized, but these were operated from somewhere else.
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