News Citation : 2026 LN (HC) 8
Bilaspur : More than five months after his arrest, Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, has been granted bail by the Chhattisgarh High Court in two cases linked to the alleged multi-crore liquor scam. He is expected to be released from jail on Saturday.
Confirming the development, Chaitanya Baghel’s counsel Harshwardhan Pargania said the High Court pronounced its order on Friday after reserving judgment in December. The bail applications related to two separate cases, one registered by the Enforcement Directorate and the other by the Economic Offences Wing.
Chaitanya Baghel was arrested on July 18 last year in connection with the alleged ₹2,833-crore liquor scam. His earlier bail pleas had been rejected by the special courts dealing with ED and EOW matters, prompting him to approach the High Court.
According to the prosecution, the Chhattisgarh EOW filed a chargesheet on December 22 alleging that Chaitanya received ₹200–250 crore between 2019 and 2022, when his father was Chief Minister. The ED, in a supplementary prosecution complaint filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Raipur, claimed that Chaitanya personally handled nearly ₹1,000 crore generated from the alleged scam. In its final chargesheet filed on December 26, the ED stated that the scam caused losses of about ₹2,883 crore to the state exchequer.
The chargesheet names several prominent political and bureaucratic figures. These include former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, former CMO deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia, alleged syndicate mastermind Anwar Dhebar, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, Indian Telecom Service officer Arunpati Tripathi, and retired IAS officer Niranjan Das. So far, 81 accused have been chargesheeted, including 59 named in the final prosecution complaint.
Investigators allege that a criminal syndicate operated with the support of political and administrative officials, using government liquor shops to sell bootlegged alcohol and extract illegal commissions. The ED claims the syndicate earned money through inflated pricing, off-the-books liquor sales using duplicate holograms, annual bribes from distillers, and commissions from foreign liquor manufacturers.
The ED has also issued multiple provisional attachment orders, seizing assets worth ₹382.32 crore. These include over a thousand movable and immovable properties allegedly linked to politicians, bureaucrats, and private entities involved in the case.