Bhupesh Baghel’s Son Moves SC: Top Court Demands Reply on PMLA Arrest Validity in ₹2,000 Crore Scam

High-profile PMLA Case infiltrated by the Supreme Court.

The court fight between Chaitanya Baghel, son of the former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, has gone to the apex court in the country. The Supreme Court of India has accepted to hear a petition submitted by Mr. Baghel against his detention by the Enforcement Directorate also known as ED. This arrest is included in a high profile probe on a so-called money laundering alchemy worth approximately two thousand crore rupees.

The first major step in this regard has been made by a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy. The court has given a formal notice to the Enforcement Directorate which is the central agency that arrested him. This is a legal requirement whereby ED should respond to the petition and explain its actions. The agency then has to elaborate the legal grounds and the events under which an arrest was necessarily.

This is a development that advances the case that was in the High Court which had previously refused relief to Mr. Baghel to the Supreme Court. The challenge petition is a direct attack on the authorities of the ED regarding the excessive Prevention of Money Laundering Act, also referred to as PMLA. This case will be followed with keen interest because it is a case which involves a high profile political family and beats of a grave case of financial crime.

The fact that the Supreme Court has ordered the ED to provide a response shows that the court has legitimate legal issues that it requires to be resolved. The nature of the problem is not only the supposed scam, but the legality of the arrest procedure essentially, which was conducted by the central agency. The legal team of Chaitanya Baghel is claiming that his arrest was illegal and it was against his fundamental rights.

Banking Mumbai Scandal: The 2000 Crore Mahadev App Scandal.

This case focuses on the enormous scandal involving Mahadev betting app. Enforcement Directorate accuses that it was a large-scale unlawful online betting enterprise that made thousands of crores of illegal gains. The platform supposedly enabled people to bet on different games, albeit with its main promoters operating it out of a central office in the United Arab Emirates, who are now fugitives.

The ED side of the case is that it was not a mere betting ring but a colossal money laundering business. The promoters purportedly laundered the money through a complex network of getting money off players and laundering the proceeds. They then allegedly used this money to buy off politicians and police officials in Chhattisgarh so that their criminal activities would not be closed.

The amount of two thousand crore rupees in the case illustrates the huge nature of the operation. The ED has asserted that the promoters of the app were generating crores of rupees daily. This inquiry has given way to an entangled web of shell companies, benami bank accounts, and hawala transactions that have been alleged to have been used to transfer this amount of this so-called proceeds of crime, both within and outside of India.

This case received some dramatic turn in politics when the ED started to investigate the alleged bribe payments. The agency has gone on record to allege that it possesses evidence such as statement by a self-proclaimed cash courier that it had been making regular and high payments to the top officials and politicians in Chhattisgarh. It is this which is the main charge against the case involving the former state government.

Challenge of Chaitanya Baghel to His Arrest.

The case petitioning the Supreme Court by Chaitanya Baghel is not based on his innocence or guilt in the scam. Rather, it goes to the root of his detention saying that his arrest was unlawful. Ed is being confronted by his lawyers on certain legal processes which they say the ED failed to adhere to. It is a typical legal tactic of combating cases in the PMLA.

The biggest case presented in the plea is that Mr. Baghel was not told in writing of the grounds of arrest appropriately. According to the Constitution and the latest judgments made by the Supreme Court, it is the essential right of any individual who is arrested to receive the information on the concrete reasons why he or she is detained. According to this petition, the ED has failed to deliver on this compulsory requirement, which invalidated the whole premise of the arrest.

The other important legal issue is the argument that the arrest was unwarranted. The petition claims that Chaitanya Baghel had been collaborating with the investigation. When called to appear before the agency, he had been reported to have done so. The arrest as per the PMLA is a drastic step and his attorneys claim that the ED did not prove that he was uncooperative, tampering with evidence, or flight risk.

Mr. Baghel had prior petitioned the lower courts to take relief before approaching the Supreme Court. The special PMLA trial court rejected his initial plea to the arrest. After that, his petition was also denied by the High Court, as the ED appeared to have done on the face of it in accordance with the due process. His last resort now will be the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will now look into whether the ED was abiding by its precedents or not. In one of the previous cases, the Supreme Court had declared it obligatory that the ED should give in writing the reasons of arrest. In case the court concludes that this was not done, the arrest may be declared illegal. This is where the ED will have to respond in its response.

A Politically Charged Investigation.

This judicial case cannot be seen out of the strong political circumstances. The father of Chaitanya Baghel is Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh when the investigation by the ED attracted a lot of publicity. The case and its developments were the front-page news of the intense campaign over the state assembly elections in 2023.

Since the start, the Congress party including Bhupesh Baghel, had rejected the investigation as a political vengeance. They have also accused the BJP led central government of having made federal agencies such as the ED and the CBI their weapons. They allege that such agencies are used to attack opposition officials to ruin their images and derail their campaigns.

One of the most controversial issues has been the time of actions of the ED. The agency made several major arrests and press releases that occurred only a couple of days before when the state was set to vote.