This event is archived. Final snapshot from when the story concluded. View on Dashboard
Events / Political / Chaitanya Baghel Accused in...
Domestic corruption charges

Chaitanya Baghel Accused in Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam

Analysis based on 8 articles · First reported Sep 15, 2025 · Last updated Sep 16, 2025

Sentiment
-70
Attention
4
Articles
8
Market Impact
General
Live prominence charts, article sentiment distribution, and event development timeline available on the Ergen Dashboard
Market Impact

The alleged Rs 2,161-crore India — Chhattisgarh liquor scam, with Chaitanya Baghel accused of handling Rs 1,000 crore, negatively impacts investor confidence in the governance and regulatory environment of India — Chhattisgarh. The involvement of high-profile political figures like Bhupesh Baghel and the India — Indian National Congress could lead to increased scrutiny of political stability and corruption risks in the region, potentially deterring investment.

Government Real Estate
Event Summary

The India — Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint in the alleged Rs 2,161-crore India — Chhattisgarh liquor scam, accusing Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, of personally handling Rs 1,000 crore of illicit funds. Chaitanya Baghel was arrested on July 18 and is currently in jail. The ED's allegations are based on statements from Laxmi Narayan Bansal, who claimed to have handled the funds in association with Chaitanya Baghel. The scam, which allegedly occurred between 2019 and 2022 during the Bhupesh Baghel-led India — Indian National Congress government, involved a syndicate of bureaucrats, politicians, and excise officials operating a parallel liquor sales system, causing a significant loss to the India — Chhattisgarh state exchequer. Chaitanya Baghel is accused of being at the 'apex of the syndicate,' maintaining accounts of illicit funds, and using proceeds of crime, including Rs 18.9 crore in his Vitthal Green real estate project and Rs 3.10 crore in his firm Baghel Developers and Associates. Bhupesh Baghel has dismissed the arrest as politically motivated, linking it to his opposition to an Adani Group coal mining project.

Entities Involved
per
Chaitanya Baghel
Chaitanya Baghel is accused by the India — Enforcement Directorate of personally handling over Rs 1,000 crore from the India — Chhattisgarh liquor scam and using the proceeds in his real estate projects. He was arrested and is currently in jail.
Importance 100.0 Sentiment -100.0
per
Bhupesh Baghel
Bhupesh Baghel, former Chief Minister of India — Chhattisgarh, has claimed his son's arrest is politically motivated and has criticized the central agencies. The alleged scam occurred during his government's tenure.
Importance 70.0 Sentiment -60.0
per
Laxmi Narayan Bansal
Laxmi Narayan Bansal, also known as Pappu Bansal, provided a statement to the India — Enforcement Directorate, claiming he handled Rs 1,000 crore from the liquor scam in association with Chaitanya Baghel. He has a non-bailable warrant against him.
Importance 60.0 Sentiment -50.0
per
Aijaz Dhebar
Aijaz Dhebar, brother of former Raipur Mayor Ejaz Dhebar, was chosen as a front face for the liquor syndicate and managed its operations. He is also named as an accused.
Importance 50.0 Sentiment -70.0
per
Ram Gopal Agrawal
Ram Gopal Agrawal, the then treasurer of the India — Chhattisgarh Congress, allegedly received large amounts of cash from the illicit funds on Chaitanya Baghel's instructions. He is currently absconding.
Importance 50.0 Sentiment -70.0
per
Anil Tuteja
Anil Tuteja, a retired IAS officer, was chosen as a front face to run the day-to-day operations of the liquor syndicate, managing operational and administrative aspects.
Importance 50.0 Sentiment -70.0
oth
Vitthal Green
Vitthal Green is a real estate project where Chaitanya Baghel allegedly layered Rs 18.9 crore of illicit money from the liquor scam.
Importance 40.0 Sentiment -50.0
priv
Baghel Developers and Associates
Baghel Developers and Associates is a real estate firm owned by Chaitanya Baghel, which allegedly received Rs 3.10 crore of illicit funds from the liquor scam.
Importance 40.0 Sentiment -50.0
per
Saumya Chaurasia
Saumya Chaurasia, former deputy secretary in the CMO, was involved in WhatsApp chats related to the liquor scam, coordinating with Chaitanya Baghel and Aijaz Dhebar for fund transfers.
Importance 30.0 Sentiment -50.0
per
Arunpati Tripathi
Arunpati Tripathi, an Indian Telecom Service officer and MD of CG State Marketing Corporation Ltd., was arrested as part of the probe into the liquor scam.
Importance 30.0 Sentiment -50.0
per
Vivek Dhand
Vivek Dhand, former chief secretary, was named in the FIR related to the liquor scam.
Importance 30.0 Sentiment -50.0
per
Kawasi Lakhma
Kawasi Lakhma, former excise minister, was named in the FIR and arrested in connection with the alleged liquor scam.
Importance 30.0 Sentiment -50.0
govactor
India — Economic Offences Wing
The India — Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of India — Chhattisgarh registered an FIR in the liquor scam and had issued a permanent warrant against Laxmi Narayan Bansal.
Importance 30.0 Sentiment 0.0
loc
India — Chhattisgarh
Importance 0.0 Sentiment 0.0
priv
Adani Group
Importance 0.0 Sentiment 0.0
+ 2 more entities View on Dashboard
ERGEN INTELLIGENCE
Track this event live

Set up alerts, explore entity relationships, search across thousands of events, and build custom intelligence feeds.

Open Dashboard

About Ergen

Ergen is a news intelligence platform that converts raw news articles into structured data. It tracks events, entities, and the relationships between them, with sentiment and attention metrics derived from thousands of articles. Pages on this site are daily static snapshots from the platform's live database. For real-time tracking, search, and alerts, the full dashboard is at app.ergen.ai.