Who is Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya, raided by ED in liquor scam probe?

The Congress wanted to field Chaitanya, who has been asked to appear before the agency on Tuesday, from the Patan Assembly seat if the former Chhattisgarh CM had won the Lok Sabha election last year. But the plan never took off as Baghel lost.

Written by Jayprakash S Naidu

Raipur | Updated: March 11, 2025 08:00 AM IST

3 min read

Chattisgarh ED liquor scam Bhupesh Baghel son Chaitanya

Congress leaders said Chaitanya’s entry into electoral politics was initially planned when his father was at the helm of the state between 2018 and 2023, but it did not materialise.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday raided 14 locations in connection with the alleged liquor scam, including the Bhilai residence of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his son Chaitanya who is a member of the Congress but has chosen to stay away from politics, according to party insiders.

Congress leaders said Chaitanya’s entry into electoral politics was initially planned when his father was at the helm of the state between 2018 and 2023, but it did not materialise. “Then last year, when Baghel was nominated to contest the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat, speculation was rife that Chaitanya would be fielded from the Patan Assembly seat (which his father represents) if his father won. But as Baghel lost, the plan was shelved,” a source said.

The ED raid is not Chaitanya’s first brush with law enforcement agencies. Last year, days after Baghel wrote to then Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud over the alleged misuse of state and central agencies to defame him and “end his political career”, the police in Durg questioned Chaitanya in connection with the attempted murder of a Bhilai professor.
https://twitter.com/bhupeshbaghel/status/1899101148713251130
A Congress leader said Chaitanya, one of Baghel’s four children, has never held any party post and looks after the family’s vegetable farm. He was involved in the real estate business earlier.

Also Read | ED searches former CM Bhupesh Baghel’s home: What is the Chhattisgarh ‘liquor scam’

The raid on the Congress leaders’ residence evoked strong responses from the party. “When a false case going on for seven years was dismissed in court, today ED guests entered the Bhilai residence of former Chief Minister, Congress general secretary Bhupesh Baghel. If someone is trying to stop Congress in Punjab through this conspiracy, then it is a misunderstanding,” the former CM’s office said in a post in Hindi on X.

Congress’s media head Pawan Khera too slammed the BJP on X and accused it of “attempting to change headlines”.

“Today, when the Parliament session is starting, the BJP, which is cornered from all sides, got the ED to raid the house of senior Congress leader, Mr Bhupesh Baghel ji, in order to change the headlines and divert the country’s attention from tariff, falling economy, voter list fraud, etc,” he said in a post.

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Bhupesh Baghel Chattisgarh ED