Chhattisgarh liquor scam: Supreme Court seeks Centre, ED's response on plea of Bhupesh Baghel's son against arrest

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and the Enforcement Directorate on a plea of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's son, Chaitanya Baghel, challenging his arrest by the ED in an alleged liquor scam case in the state.

The ED accused Baghel of laundering a part of the proceeds of crime through shell companies and real estate investments.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre and the ED, to file the response to the plea in 10 days.

Senior advocates N Hariharan and Kapil Sibal, for Chaitanya questioned the way the ED arrested Chaitanya.

"They (ED) arrested me on the ground of non-cooperation. But they never sent me a notice. They never summoned me. They never called me. But they arrest me under Section 19 (of PMLA), which they can’t do. They have to issue me a notice. They can’t arrest me on non-cooperation without giving notice," Sibal said.

Hariharan sought quashing of grounds of his arrest, contending that the ED was needlessly delaying the trial to prolong their client's arrest.

He claimed the investigation didn't seem to end at all.

The bench, however, said, "More than grounds of arrest, it’s about interpretation of law. How long can you keep the accused in custody?"

Raju submitted that this court granted me time to complete the investigation in three months.

On October 17, the Chhattisgarh High Court dismissed the plea challenging the arrest in the case.

Terming his arrest as illegal, Chaitanya has challenged the HC's order, claiming that the procedural irregularity on the ED's part has rendered its entire process void.