Durg (Chhattisgarh) [India], March 11 (ANI): Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Monday hit out at BJP over Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at his residence and claimed it was done without the Election Commission's permission and to create a media hype.

Bhupesh Baghel dismissed thealleged recovery of Rs 33 lakhs from his residence as insignificant and accused the authorities of attempting to defame him.

'On one hand, they came here without the permission of ECI, and secondly, they brought the machine to create hype, they recovered only Rs 33 lakhs. They just want to defame me. They don't have anything else with them. I haven't received any summons. I am not running away. Whenever I go out of state, there is a raid. It has been 4 years, till now you couldn't probe properly, because they know that they can't win in the court,' said Bhupesh Baghel.

The ED conducted searches at the residence of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, his son Chaitanya Baghel and others in connection with an ongoing probe into the alleged multi-crore liquor scam.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Baghel said, 'At around 7.30 in the morning I was reading the newspaper, ED came to my house and I welcomed them.'

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel also addressed his supporters. 'In this time of crisis, you stood firm. I thank you with folded hands,' he said.

Further explaining the turn of events, he said, 'I asked them about the search warrant. He asked about my phone and I refused. We are an agricultural family and we have 140 acres of land. ED found around 33 lakhs from my home.'He further alleged the BJP of using investigative agencies to trouble opposition leaders and said, 'The citizens of the country now know that the BJP uses CBI, ED to trouble others. If the search operation ended just in hours in the home of a former chief minister, then they did not find anything.'

'BJP is furious due to a few reasons. One of them is that I made the General Secretary recently,' he added.

In a post on X, Baghel said 'ED has left the house. They found three things in my house. Pen drive containing conversation about transaction of crores between Manturam and Dr. Puneet Gupta (Dr. Raman Singh's son-in-law). Papers of SAIL company of Dr. Raman Singh's son Abhishek Singh.'

'The total of farming, dairy, Stridhan and 'cash in hand' in the entire joint family is about 33 lakh rupees, the account of which will be given to them. The main thing is that ED officials have not been able to provide any ECIR number,' he said.

As per the sources, the raids were conducted at a total of 14 locations across Chhattisgarh in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the liquor trade in Chhattisgarh, involving alleged suspected illegal commissions and money laundering.

The ED has alleged that a cartel of government officials, politicians, and liquor businessmen ran a scheme that illegally collected around Rs 2,161 crore from the sale of liquor in the state between 2019 and 2022. The alleged scam involved manipulation of the liquor supply chain, where a cartel controlled the sale and distribution of alcohol through government-run shops.The agency has earlier conducted multiple raids, including on politicians and bureaucrats linked to the previous Congress-led government in Chhattisgarh. (ANI)