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Raipur, October 15 (IANS) Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya Baghel will remain in judicial custody till October 29 as a special court in Raipur has extended his remand by 14 days in the Rs 3,200 crore liquor scam case.
The court’s decision aligns the remand period of all the accused in the case, including several politicians and businessmen, for a unified hearing on October 29. The court’s decision to extend the remand was to ensure simultaneous trial for all the accused, whose previous remand period was to end on October 15.
An ongoing investigation is underway to probe the role of various high-profile people implicated in the scam.
As the case unfolded, it has remained the focus of public and political attention in Chhattisgarh, raising questions on accountability and governance.
The next hearing on October 29 will be crucial in determining the future course of this high-profile legal battle.
Investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) have alleged that Chaitanya Baghel played a central role in channeling illicit income of Rs 1,000 crore from the scam.
Reports suggest that he directly invested Rs 16.70 crore in companies and real estate deals.
The EOW had requested additional time to file the charge sheet on October 13, which was extended till October 15 by the court. However, the charge sheet is pending, prompting the court to standardize the remand period for all accused.
The Rs 3,200 crore liquor scam, said to be Chhattisgarh’s biggest financial scam, is a result of changes in the state’s excise policy under the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government (2019-2022).
The 2019 policy eliminated centralized government control over the purchase, distribution and sale of liquor, which allegedly enabled the supply of spurious liquor, cash transactions and favoritism towards liquor mafias. These irregularities are said to have given rise to large-scale financial misappropriation.
–IANS
SKTR/UK