In a significant development in the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam, the Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred till January 28 the hearing on over 40 petitions, including bail pleas of several accused and appeals filed by probe agencies.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul Pancholi also issued notice on a plea filed by Soumya Chaurasia, a former senior bureaucrat and ex-OSD to former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Chaurasia was re-arrested in the liquor scam cases after having been granted bail in a related coal levy case.
Appearing for Chaurasia, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Kapil Sibal contended that the repeated arrests were a form of judicial overreach. “This is forever evergreening of FIRs… Every time the Supreme Court grants bail, she is arrested again,” Rohatgi said. Sibal added that the allegations and material against her have remained unchanged since 2019.
While the court issued notice in Chaurasia’s case, it did not issue notice on the Enforcement Directorate’s separate plea challenging bail granted to Chaitanya Baghel, son of ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel. However, it agreed to hear that matter along with the bail plea of former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma on January 28.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the liquor scam in Chhattisgarh occurred between 2019 and 2022, under the Baghel-led Congress government. The agency alleges that a liquor syndicate caused massive losses to the state exchequer and generated thousands of crores in illicit proceeds.
The ED has accused Chaitanya Baghel of being at the helm of this syndicate and personally managing close to ₹1,000 crore in illicit funds. The state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) also allege that he received ₹200-250 crore as his share of the proceeds.
The total proceeds of crime could exceed ₹3,500 crore, the ACB/EOW has claimed.
Baghel was arrested by the ED in July 2025, and later arrested again in jail by the ACB in September that year. On January 2, the Chhattisgarh High Court granted him bail in both the ED and ACB/EOW cases.
In December 2025, the ED filed a final prosecution complaint in the money laundering case, naming 59 more accused, including Soumya Chaurasia, former IAS officer Niranjan Das, liquor license holders, distributors, and excise officials—bringing the total number of accused in the PMLA case to 81.
