ED attaches ₹61.20 crore assets of ex-CM Baghel’s son in liquor scam
364 plots, fixed deposits attached; Congress alleges ‘malicious action’
Raipur
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth ₹61.20 crore belonging to Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with the State’s alleged liquor scam.
The central agency’s action, executed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on 10 November, includes 364 residential plots and agricultural land parcels valued at ₹59.96 crore, according to ED officials. Additionally, movable properties comprising bank balances and fixed deposits worth ₹1.24 crore have been seized.
The total value of assets attached in the liquor scam case now stands at ₹276 crore.
The Congress party called the ED’s move a “malicious action.” Sushil Anand Shukla, head of the party’s communications department, said ancestral property was being attached, stating that the people of Chhattisgarh “will never forgive” this action.
The ED investigation, which began based on an FIR lodged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)/Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Raipur, revealed that the scam caused a massive loss to the State exchequer and generated illegal proceeds of approximately ₹2,500 crore.
The agency’s PMLA probe established that Chaitanya Baghel was at the apex of the liquor syndicate. Owing to his position and political influence, he was the controller and final decision-maker for the entire network. He kept track of all the illegally collected money, and all major decisions related to the collection, channelisation, and distribution of the illicit proceeds were taken under his direction.
Chaitanya Baghel, the ED stated, was a recipient of the illegal income, which he allegedly layered through his real estate business to project it as ‘legitimate’ assets. He used the proceeds from the scam to develop his real estate project, ‘Vitthal Green’, operated under his firm, M/S Baghel Developers.
Chaitanya Baghel was arrested by the ED on 18 July 2025 and is currently in judicial custody.
The ED had previously arrested several others in the case, including former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Arvind Singh, Trilok Singh Dhillon, Anwar Dhebar, Excise Department officer Arun Pati Tripathi (ITS), and former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma (current MLA). Assets belonging to these individuals were also attached earlier.
