THE Enforcement Directorate’s Raipur Zonal Office (ED-RPZO) concluded its daylong search and seizure operations at three locations across Raipur and Durg districts late Tuesday night, recovering substantial digital evidence suspected to contain financial trails connected with the alleged Rs 3,200 crore Chhattisgarh liquor scam. Although the searches yielded no cash seizure, investigators secured mobile phones, hard disks and electronic records for forensic examination and digital cloning. Knowledgeable sources privy to Tuesday’s operations told The Hitavada, requesting anonymity, that the federal agency’s teams, accompanied by armed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, searched three premises across the two districts. In Raipur, investigators reached Sushil Villa in Ravinagar, under Pandri police station limits, around 4 am and searched businessman Nitin Daga’s residence. Daga is reportedly associated with jewellery trading and land transactions.

 

Approximately six officials arrived in two vehicles, examining financial records while restricting entry and exit. In Durg, another team comprising over ten officials searched businessman and transporter Gulshan Baghel’s seventh-floor apartment at Rishabh Green City. Baghel, founder of Baghels Corporate Private Limited, is associated with construction, earthwork, material handling and transportation. He previously faced allegations of impersonating a relative of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to obtain money on promises of Government employment. That case remains separate from Tuesday’s investigation. Sources said the seized electronic devices and records were being subjected to forensic scrutiny to reconstruct suspected financial transactions and communication networks associated with the liquor syndicate. Significantly, when asked whether those searched were beneficiaries of illicit proceeds or individuals involved in transporting cash through hawala channels to the Congress headquarters, a senior ED-RPZO source ruled out that characterisation.

 

“They had different roles, basically as ‘middlemen’ for some powerful syndicate members involved in the liquor scam,” the official told this newspaper reporter, declining to disclose their identities or specific functions within the alleged network. The source maintained that the precise nature of their suspected involvement could not be discussed while forensic examination and further investigation remained underway. The operations follow significant developments in the investigation into the alleged liquor syndicate operating during the previous Congress Government. On October 9, ED filed a supplementary prosecution complaint against former Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee Treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal, alleging that approximately Rs 860 crore to Rs 880 crore reached Rajiv Bhawan, the Congress headquarters in Raipur. According to ED, Laxmi Narayan Bansal alias Pappu Bansal handled cash collections allegedly delivered to Agrawal’s accountant, Devendra Dadsena. Approximately Rs 72 crore reportedly remained under Agrawal’s control.

 

ED subsequently attached two Raipur flats worth Rs 9.06 crore, taking cumulative attachments, seizures and frozen assets to approximately Rs 610 crore. Those arrested during the investigation include Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel; former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma; former IAS officer Anil Tuteja; Anwar Dhebar, brother of former Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar; and former Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited Managing Director Arun Pati Tripathi. On October 14, the

 

State Economic Offences Investigation Bureau/Anti-Corruption Bureau (SEOIACB) filed its 27,000-page tenth supplementary chargesheet against 20 individuals and 22 firms and companies. Besides Agrawal, those named include Naveen Kedia, Rajendra Jaiswal, Bhupendra Pal Singh Bhatia, Prince Bhatia, Vidhu Gupta, Ashok Singh, Navneet Gupta, Satyendra Prakash Garg, Vikas Kumar, Rajeev Dwivedi, N Uday Rao, Ashish Saurabh Kedia, Sumit Malu, Ravi Bajaj, Ashish Srivastava, Yash Tuteja, Akhtar Dhebar, B R Lohia and Kumar Bhai Thakkar. SEOIACB alleged that Agrawal handled over Rs 1,000 crore under party fund arrangements, while documenting illicit liquor sales, commissions, hawala transfers and corporate investments. The latest searches have opened another line of inquiry into suspected intermediaries associated with influential syndicate members. Investigators are now examining the recovered digital material to establish the nature and extent of their alleged involvement.