New Delhi, February 9 The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear the Chhattisgarh government's appeal challenging the bail granted to Chaitanya Baghel, son of former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, in alleged liquor scam cases, after a week.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N V Anjaria was told by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing Chhattisgarh, that one of the key witnesses in the case had not come forward after Chaitanya Baghel was granted bail.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has separately challenged his bail in a related money laundering case.
The bench stated that the matter would be heard after a week.
The top court also addressed a separate plea filed by Saumya Chaurasia, Bhupesh Baghel's former deputy secretary, who was arrested by the ED in December last year in connection with the alleged liquor scam in the state.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Chaurasia, said that the apex court had previously granted bail to Chaurasia in other cases where she was arrested.
"They have registered a fresh FIR and arrested her in December," Rohatgi said, adding that this is the sixth time she has been arrested.
The bench directed her to approach the Chhattisgarh High Court for bail.
It stated that she may file her petition before the high court within a week, and the high court may take her plea on a priority basis and decide it within two weeks.
The bench was also informed that Chaurasia was also arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on January 2.
The top court said she may move the high court to seek bail in that case as well.
Chaurasia, who was previously granted bail by the apex court in the coal levy scam case, was re-arrested by the investigating agencies in the liquor cases.
On January 15, the apex court deferred the hearing on the Chhattisgarh government's appeal challenging the bail granted to Chaitanya Baghel.
While the state government alleged that Chaitanya Baghel was one of the prime accused and masterminds in the sensational case, his counsel argued that the high court delivered a well-considered judgment in the case, which had been under investigation for the last two years.
On January 2, the high court granted bail to Chaitanya Baghel in two cases linked to the alleged liquor scam.
The single bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma allowed Chaitanya Baghel's bail pleas in a case lodged by the ED and another by the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)/EOW.
In its order on the bail application in the ED's case, the high court noted that the applicant's alleged role was "significantly lesser" than that of several senior accused who had already been granted bail.
It stated that the alleged kingpins and principal beneficiaries Anwar Dhebar, Anil Tuteja, Arvind Singh, Arunpati Tripathi and Trilok Singh Dhillon had already been granted bail by the Supreme Court, and denying bail to the applicant would violate the well-established principle of parity.
The high court observed that the investigation was largely documentary in nature, and that Chaitanya Baghel had remained in custody for a considerable period.
It stated that the evidentiary value of the material collected by the ED, including statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and financial and digital records, would be tested during the trial, and not conclusively assessed at the bail stage.
In a separate order granting him bail in the ACB/EOW case, the HC stated that it was a "grave violation of law" that the investigating officer failed to arrest Lakshmi Narayan Bansal (an accused in the case) despite a permanent/open-ended warrant issued by the special court.
The ED arrested Chaitanya Baghel on July 18 last year in its money laundering probe in the alleged scam, while the ACB/EOW placed him under arrest while he was in jail on September 24 in its case linked to the corruption probe.
The liquor "scam" in the state, according to the ED, was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was governed by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress dispensation.
The alleged scam resulted in a "massive loss" to the state exchequer and filled the pockets of the beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate, it claimed.
According to the ED, Chaitanya Baghel was at the helm of the syndicate behind the alleged liquor scam and personally handled nearly Rs 1,000 crore generated through the scandal.
The ACB/EOW has claimed that Chaitanya Baghel, along with others, managed the proceeds of crime at a higher level and received around Rs 200-250 crore as his share.
The proceeds of crime linked to the scam could exceed Rs 3,500 crore, the state agency had claimed.