CBI searches former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel’s residences in Raipur, Bhilai

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at the residence of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. According to officials, CBI teams searched Baghel’s residence in Raipur and Bhilai, as well as the residential premises of a senior police officer and close aide of Baghel. 

The searches are taking place likely in connection with the Mahadev betting app case. This comes after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at Baghel’s residence recently in connection with the same case. They also searched the residence of his son Chaitanya Baghel. 

"The CBI has come. Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is scheduled to go to Delhi today for the meeting of the Drafting Committee constituted for the AICC meeting to be held in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on April 8 and 9. Before this, the CBI has reached Raipur and Bhilai residence," stated a post on X by the office of Bhupesh Baghel.

The CBI has taken over the investigation in the case from the Economic Offences Wing of the Chhattisgarh Police, which had earlier named Baghel, promoters of the app, Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni, and Anil Kumar Agrawal, and 14 others in its FIR.

Baghel had termed the FIR politically motivated. 

Meanwhile, the ED, which is also probing the case, has revealed that several top politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh were involved in the case. The ED had projected the proceeds of the crime at about Rs 6,000 crore.

State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla said that the BJP is scared of Baghel. They had first sent the CBI and now the ED. “When the BJP fails to fight politically, it uses central agencies against its opponents," he alleged