Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax raids on his colleagues were “malicious attempts” to defame and suppress the Congress-led state government.
Addressing a press conference a day after his political adviser Vinod Verma’s residence was raided by the ED, Baghel said in the coming days ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, more raids will be conducted. The Chhattisgarh elections are slated to take place later this year.
“In the next few months, a team of 200-250 personnel of I-T will conduct raids across Chhattisgarh. Once ED goes, I-T comes in and vice-versa. This has been the pattern,” he said.
“However, the people of Chhattisgarh have understood the tactics. As they conduct more raids, their seats will decrease. There are 15 seats, although at present there are 13 seats if they continue to do this, it will be hard for them to even win the 15 seats,” the Chhattisgarh CM said.
On Wednesday, the ED raided the premises of Verma and two officers on special duty (OSDs) and arrested four people. The money laundering case pertains to the Mahadev App racket, an online gaming platform that allegedly cheated people, where transactions close to Rs 5,000 crore allegedly have been made.
When asked by reporters if Baghel is scared of getting arrested, following the arrests and raids on the premises of his aide, the CM replied, “We are from Chhattisgarh. We are not scared of death, nor do we fear going to jail. The Naxals have killed so many people, all our old guards have been martyred, and all this happened during their rule…They had sent me to jail earlier. Raman Singh had sent me and the government of 15 years got down to just 15 seats.”
Baghel further said that he would give a befitting response to the BJP in the upcoming state assembly polls and wipe out the party from Chhattisgarh.
“An attempt is being made to suppress and defame the Chhattisgarh government. The BJP started this after losing the Jharkhand elections in July 2020. They were silent for two and a half years, but have become active again as the elections are approaching,” Baghel said, as quoted by PTI.
The CM said the probe agencies are alleging scams to the tune of Rs 2,168 crore in Chhattisgarh, which they have been unable to prove, as assets recovered in raids make up for only a fraction of that sum. Baghel said the problem of the BJP is that it is baffled how the government procured from farmers 107 lakh metric tonnes of paddy which earlier used to rot in the open.
“We saved all those losses. This is their worry,” he added.
Meanwhile, Verma on Thursday said that the ED team committed “dacoity” at his house Wednesday, and the central probe agency was lying that a prime accused in the Mahadev online gaming app case was related to him, reported The Indian Express.
Among the four arrests made, one was Assistant Sub Inspector Chandrabhushan Verma, who according to the ED, is related to Vinod Verma.