CBI raids Bhupesh Baghel's residence: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in connection with the alleged Rs 6,000 crore Mahadev betting app case, officials said. The agency has not disclosed the details regarding the purpose of the searches.
The agency teams conducted raids at the residences of Baghel in Raipur and Bhilai, as well as at the homes of a senior police officer and a close associate of the senior Congress leader.
Bhupesh Baghel reacts
Office of Bhupesh Baghel, in a statement, said that the former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister was scheduled to attend a meeting at the Congress Headquarters in Delhi.
"The CBI has come. Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is scheduled to go to Delhi today for the meeting of the Drafting Committee constituted for the AICC meeting to be held in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on 8th and 9th April. Before this, the CBI has reached Raipur and Bhilai residence," read the post on X.
Mahadev betting app case
The CBI has taken over the investigation from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chhattisgarh Police, which had earlier named Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, along with app promoters Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni, Anil Kumar Agrawal, and 14 others in its FIR.
Baghel dismissed the EOW FIR as "politically motivated."
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), also probing the case, has alleged that its investigation uncovered the involvement of several top politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh.
According to the ED, the app functioned as an umbrella syndicate for illegal betting websites, facilitating new user enrollments, creating user IDs, and laundering money through a complex network of ‘benami’ bank accounts.
The projected proceeds of crime amount to approximately ₹6,000 crore, as per ED estimates.
ED raids Baghel's residence in liquor scam case
This comes days after the Enforcement Directorate's recent raids at 14 locations in Durg district, Chhattisgarh, as part of its ongoing investigation into a massive liquor scam linked to a money laundering case. Among the premises searched were those connected to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, including the residence of his son, Chaitanya Baghel, and the properties of his close associates, including Laxmi Narayan Bansal, also known as Pappu Bansal.
The liquor scam is said to have caused a massive loss of approximately Rs 2,161 crore to the state's exchequer, with proceeds from the crime allegedly siphoned off through various fraudulent schemes. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Chaitanya Baghel is believed to be one of the recipients of these illicit funds.
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