Overview

• The state ACB/EOW arrested the retired IAS officer on September 18 and said he will be produced in court on Friday, making him the second retired IAS officer held in the case.
• Officials allege he enabled unaccounted liquor sales through state-run shops, manipulated tenders, engineered transfers and backed a flawed policy in return for undue benefits worth crores.
• Estimates of the alleged irregularities vary across filings, ranging from more than ₹2,100 crore to about ₹3,200 crore in purported losses and illicit gains.
• Investigators say the network operated between 2019 and 2022 during the Bhupesh Baghel-led government, involving senior bureaucrats, politicians and excise officials.
• Parallel to the corruption probe, the ED is pursuing a money-laundering case with arrests including Chaitanya Baghel on July 18, while the EOW’s FIR named about 70 entities and has yielded multiple chargesheets and arrests, including Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma.