ED attaches assets worth ₹61.2 crore belonging to Baghel’s son

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (November 13, 2025) said it had provisionally seized assets worth ₹61.2 crore belonging to Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, who is facing a money laundering probe in connection with the alleged liquor scam in the state.

In a statement issued by the ED Raipur Regional Office, the agency claimed that the list of attached assets includes immovable properties in the form of 364 residential plots and agricultural land worth Rs 59.96 crore. Movable properties in the form of bank balances and fixed deposits worth Rs 1.24 crore were also attached, he added.

The predicate offense is a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, relating to the state’s alleged fraud orchestrated by the Congress when Mr. Bhupesh Baghel was the Chief Minister.

Police investigation has revealed that the Chhattisgarh liquor scam resulted in a huge loss to the State exchequer and lined the pockets of the beneficiaries with Proceeds of Crime (POC) from commission of planned crimes worth more than ₹2,500 crore.

About the money laundering angle and the specific role of Mr. Chaitanya Baghel, who has been in jail since July this year, the ED statement stated that “Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya Baghel is at the top of the liquor syndicate.”

“His position as the Prime Minister’s son made him the controller and ultimate authority of the liquor syndicate. hisab (Accounts of) all illegal funds collected by the union,” he added.

According to the ED investigation, the press release also found that Mr. Chaitanya Baghel was the recipient of proceeds of crime (POC), which he had layered through his real estate business and envisaged as untarnished assets. According to ED, Chaitanya Baghel used the POC obtained from the liquor scam for the development of real estate project named “Vitthal Green” under property concern M/s Baghel Developers.

Responding to the development, Raipur Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla said that the action was malicious as ancestral property was seized. “The people of Chattisgarh will never forgive this,” he said.