'Central government will fall now that my son is arrested': Bhupesh Baghel

Bhupesh Baghel

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has spoken about his son Chaitanya's arrest in the money laundering case linked to a liquor scam.

"I was arrested during Raman Singh's tenure, his government fell. Now my son was arrested and the Central government will fall... The Supreme Court has also given a verdict in our favour," he was quoted by ANI as saying.

On July 22, a special court remanded Chaitanya Baghel to a 14-day judicial custody. Chaitanya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 18 after the investigative body searched his house that he and his father share, in Bhilai area of Durg district in the state.

Chaitanya was produced before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (VI) Damarudhar Chouhan on July 22 after the expiry of his ED custody, the investigative agency's counsel Saurabh Kumar Pande told the media.

Pande confirmed that during his custodial remand, Chaitanya was interrogated and confronted with statements as well as documents. According to Pande, Chaitanya conceded at several points, following wich the ED requested the court for his judicial custody.

The court has sent him to judicial custody till August 4 and I needed the ED can interrogate him with court's permission. The ED claimed in a statement that Chaitanya "handled" more than ₹1,000 crore worth of "proceeds of crime" generated from a liquor "scam" in the state and used ₹16.7 crore for the development of his real estate project.

"Chaitanya was in receipt of proceeds of crime worth ₹16.70 crore. He had used his real estate firms to intermingle the said funds. It was found that he had utilised the said cash amount (proceeds of crime) in the development of his real estate project," the investigative agency said.