The Congress on Wednesday claimed the CBI's searches at the residence of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel were politically motivated, and asserted it will not be intimidated by such actions.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of Congress leader Baghel in connection with the alleged Rs 6,000 crore Mahadev app scam, officials said.
The agency teams swooped down at Baghel's residences in Raipur and Bhilai, as well as the houses of a senior police officer and a close associate of the former CM, they said.
The searches also covered the premises of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav in Bhilai town of Durg district and of IPS officers Anand Chhabra, Abhishek Pallava and Arif Sheikh, among others, sources said.
Baghel said the CBI conducted searches at his residence ahead of his scheduled visit to New Delhi for a Congress meeting.
Reacting to the action, Baghel's office in a post on X said, "Now CBI has arrived. 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 that, CBI has reached Raipur and Bhilai residences," it added.
State Congress chief Deepak Baij in a post on X claimed the BJP sent the CBI after Baghel and Yadav following all the "failed raids and failed conspiracies".
"Since this morning, the CBI has been camping at the houses of both our leaders, this is nothing but the government's desperation," he charged.
"But remember one thing - neither Congress will bow down, nor Congress will stop. This fight is not just about the leaders, but about every truth which is being tried to be crushed by the power. BJP should remember - truth does not bow down, and the end of injustice is certain," he added.
Senior Congress leader and former state Deputy CM TS Singh Deo also condemned the action and claimed the central agencies have been trying to harass Baghel.
"The attempt by the agencies to harass former CM Bhupesh Baghel ji repeatedly is condemnable. It is only the BJP's failed attempt to tarnish Bhupesh ji's image. The state BJP government is incapable of running the government, therefore it has been making such efforts to divert attention from the issues related to the public," Singh Deo alleged in a post on X.
First the ED, then CBI, the investigating agencies have been acting as the 'B' team of the BJP, he claimed.
"It has become clear that the central agency has only become a weapon to threaten and harass opposition leaders. This action being taken by BJP out of political malice is a violation of democracy," he added.
State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla slammed the BJP over the action and claimed the ruling party was scared of Baghel.
"Ever since Baghel has become the party in-charge of Punjab, the BJP is scared. First, the Enforcement Directorate was sent to his residence and now, the CBI has been sent. This shows the BJP's fear. When the BJP fails to fight politically, it uses central agencies against its opponents," he alleged.
"Neither Bhupesh Baghel nor the Congress party is scared," Shukla said.
The people of the country and the state are well aware of these "oppressive" policies of the BJP, he said.
Earlier also, the CBI had lodged a case against Baghel in connection with an alleged seven-year-old (sleaze) CD matter, but the court recently discharged him of all charges, Shukla added.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted searches at Baghel's residence in connection with an alleged liquor scam case.
The state government last year handed over to the CBI 70 cases related to the alleged Mahadev scam lodged with different police stations and one case registered with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the state.
Baghel along with promoters of the Mahadev app - Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni and Anil Kumar Agrawal and 14 others - were named as accused in the EOW's FIR.
Baghel had termed the EOW FIR "politically motivated".
Notably, the ED has been probing the Mahadev app-linked money laundering case, unearthed during the previous Congress government in the state.
The ED had conducted multiple raids in the case earlier in the state and filed prosecution complaints (chargesheets) in the case, including against the two main promoters of the alleged illegal betting and gaming app - Chandrakar and Uppal.
The ED claimed in the past that its probe in the Mahadev online gaming and betting app has shown involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the state where the two main promoters, Chandrakar and Uppal, of the app hail from.
It had said the app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and laundering of money through a layered web of 'benami' bank accounts.
The two main promoters of the app are stated to have been detained in Dubai on the basis of an ED-requested Interpol red notice. The projected proceeds of crime in this case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.
