Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, who carried out searches at the residence and other premises of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in a money laundering case against his son in the alleged liquor scam case, were attacked on Monday.
According to reports, upset over the incident, Congress workers targeted the officials and allegedly attacked the car of a deputy director-level ED officer.
Visuals of the attack accessed show a group of people assaulting the ED officers.
ED officials conducted searches under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at approximately 14-15 locations in the state, including the Bhilai residence of Chaitanya Baghel, son of Mr Baghel, and the premises of his associate Laxmi Narayan Bansal, also known as Pappu Bansal, as per reports.
Since Chaitanya Baghel lives with his father in the Bhilai accommodation, that location was included in the operation. Sources indicate that Chaitanya Baghel is believed to have received illegal funds connected to the liquor scam.
After the raids, in an X post, Bhupesh Baghel hit out at BJP and stated, "The ED has left my house. They found three things at my home: A pen drive containing conversations about financial transactions worth crores between Manturam and Dr. Puneet Gupta (son-in-law of Dr. Raman Singh). Documents related to the shell company of Dr. Raman Singh's son, Abhishek Singh. Around ₹33 lakh in total, including agricultural earnings, dairy income, women's assets (Stridhan), and 'cash in hand,' for which an explanation will be provided. The key point is that ED officials were unable to provide any ECIR number."
