Overview
- Justice Arvind Kumar Verma granted bail in both the Enforcement Directorate’s PMLA case and the state ACB/EOW corruption case tied to the alleged liquor syndicate.
- Baghel, arrested by the ED on July 18, 2025, was taken into custody again by the ACB/EOW in September while he was already in judicial custody.
- Investigators allege large illicit flows, with the ED saying Baghel handled about Rs 1,000 crore and estimating losses to the exchequer at Rs 2,883 crore, while the EOW alleges he received Rs 200–250 crore.
- Prosecution activity has accelerated with multiple charge sheets naming scores of accused, and the ED has provisionally attached assets worth about Rs 382.32 crore across more than a thousand properties.
- The alleged scheme, said to have run largely between 2019 and 2022, involved a parallel excise system using illegal holograms, unaccounted liquor sales, and commission collections, which Baghel’s camp denies as politically motivated.