ED files chargesheet against Chaitanya Baghel, ex-CM Baghel’s son

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday (September 15, 2025) filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against Chaitanya Baghel, the son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged liquor scam.

The ED’s counsel Saurabh Pande confirmed to The Hindu that the PC was filed in a special court on Monday (September 15, 2025). The case pertains to a loss of ₹2,161 crore to the State’s exchequer allegedly by a syndicate of senior bureaucrats, politicians, and excise department officials when Mr. Bhupesh was the Chief Minister. Among those arrested in connection with it are former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma and several bureaucrats.

Mr. Chaitanya was arrested on July 18. The ED had said that he had “handled” more than ₹1,000 crore worth of “proceeds of crime” generated from the liquor “scam” in the State and used some of that money for the development of his real estate project. Mr. Pande said the charge sheet catalogues the same allegations along with corroborating evidence such as bank details.

He said that the prosecution complaint (99 pages) along with the relied upon documents runs into 7,039 pages. “We have also submitted a hard disc containing digital evidence and other documents,” he said. Mr. Pande added that Mr. Chaitanya is the only accused mentioned in the prosecution complaint. Faisal Rizvi, Mr. Chaitanya’s lawyer said that the PC as of now dealt only with those proceeds of crime recouped personally by Mr. Chaitanya and that a sum amounting to ₹18.5 crore had been put in his real estate projects.

“That investigation conducted by the ED under the PMLA, 2002, has also revealed the use of cash [proceeds of crime] in the construction of ‘Vitthal Green project’ of M/s Baghel Developers. The Directorate conducted a search on the premises of the accountant of firms pertaining to Sh. Chaitanya Baghel and records pertaining to these firms were seized,” the remand application noted.