‘We read files overnight’: SC irked as ED seeks adjournment in Chaitanya Baghel bail cancellation plea

New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking cancellation of bail granted to Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in the alleged multi-crore liquor scam case.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana adjourned the matter after the ED sought more time to argue its plea against the Chhattisgarh High Court order granting bail to Chaitanya Baghel.

Expressing displeasure over the request for adjournment, the CJI-led Bench remarked: “First, it’s ‘list it, list it’; then comes the adjournment. We read files overnight for these cases.”

The Special Leave Petition (SLP) has been filed by the ED challenging the order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which had enlarged Chaitanya Baghel on bail in a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the alleged liquor scam.

In January this year, a single-judge Bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma granted bail to Chaitanya Baghel, who had been arrested by the ED in July 2025 during its probe into the alleged liquor scam said to have operated between 2019 and 2023. The Chhattisgarh High Court had observed that the applicant was “not alleged to have held any official or statutory position” in the Excise Department or state-run liquor corporations and that the allegations against him were primarily based on statements recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA and assertions of association with other accused persons. It had granted relief after observing that the role attributed to Chaitanya Baghel was “largely inferential and derivative in nature” and not founded on any specific overt act directly attributable to him.

While acknowledging the seriousness of the allegations, Justice Verma had held that “continued incarceration of the applicant would convert the presumption of innocence into a hollow promise” and that the trial was unlikely to conclude in the foreseeable future given the large number of accused, witnesses and documents involved.

The ED has alleged that Chaitanya Baghel played a key role in the liquor syndicate and handled nearly Rs 1,000 crore in proceeds of crime generated through the alleged scam. According to the anti-money laundering agency, the racket involved illegal commissions on liquor sales, unaccounted liquor production and diversion of excise revenue, causing substantial losses to the state exchequer. The alleged liquor scam, estimated to involve proceeds running into thousands of crores of rupees, is being investigated by both the ED and the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing (ACB/EOW). Multiple charge sheets and prosecution complaints have been filed naming several politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.

–IANS

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