The Chhattisgarh Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) has filed its 10th supplementary charge sheet in the alleged liquor scam, accusing 20 individuals, including former state Congress treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, and 22 firms. The 27,000-page document details illegal liquor production, hawala transactions, and investment of illicit proceeds. The scam, estimated by the ED to be between 2019 and 2022, involved a complex network of illegal liquor sales, duplicate holograms, and routing of funds.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that Rs 860-Rs 880 crore generated from an alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh during the previous Congress regime was delivered to the Pradesh Congress Committee office in Raipur. The agency filed a supplementary chargesheet against former PCC treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal and provisionally attached his properties worth Rs 9.06 crore. The ED alleges a liquor syndicate controlled the state excise department, generating over Rs 2,883 crore in illegal proceeds.
The Enforcement Directorate has attached properties worth over Rs 1,000 crore as part of its investigation into the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam, filing a fresh complaint against four additional accused.
Seven individuals, including senior executives from manpower firms, have been arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in overtime payments within the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corp Ltd (CSMCL) during the previous Congress administration. The arrests follow an investigation into fraudulent billing practices and misappropriation of funds.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing arrested seven individuals, including executives from manpower firms, in connection with alleged irregularities in overtime payments within Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corp Ltd during the previous Congress administration.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing (ACB/EOW) has claimed in its chargesheet that Chaitanya, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, received Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore as his share from an alleged liquor scam in the state.
Chaitanya Baghel, son of Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, was released from jail after being granted bail in cases related to the alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh. The release was met with celebration by Congress supporters.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, handled over Rs 1,000 crore worth of proceeds from a liquor scam and used Rs 16.7 crore for his real estate project.
The sources said that Chaitnaya Baghel was arrested under section 19 of the anti-money laundering as he was allegedly not cooperating during the searches that came about following receipt of fresh evidence in the case.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel as part of a money laundering investigation against his son in the alleged liquor scam case and seized about Rs 30 lakh apart from some documents, official sources said.
The attached properties include 14 assets of Tuteja worth Rs 15.82 crore, 115 properties of Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, worth Rs 116.16 crore, properties of Vikash Agarwal alias Subbu worth Rs 1.54 crore and 33 properties of Arvind Singh worth Rs 12.99 crore, it said in a statement.
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested the special secretary of the Chhattisgarh excise department in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate scam in the state.
The ED said its investigation also revealed that from 2019 to 2022, the sale of 'unaccounted illicit' liquor was almost 30-40 per cent of the total liquor sale in the state.
While the BJP said it has only portrayed some incidents, which happened during the previous Congress regime through the cartoons which are not meant to hurt anyone, the grand old party accused it of releasing such illustrations out of frustration.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.
The party, however, chose to play down the incidents calling them 'minor protests', and claimed that there was no discontent among the workers.
The party's history shows that it has had at least 13 presidents from outside the Nehru-Gandhi clan since independence as against five from its first family. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have headed the party for the majority of the period since independence.
It would be best that Rahul remains party chief, but at the same time, Rahul's own wishes must also be respected, Aiyar said.
Of the 15 people who led the 132-year-old party post independence, four have belonged to the Gandhi-Nehru family.
He challenged the Congress to select someone 'capable' as its president, who did not belong to 'that one family'.
