CBI court discharges former Chhattisgarh CM Baghel in 2017 sleaze CD case

Raipur: A special CBI court in Raipur on Tuesday discharged senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in a 2017 alleged sex CD case purportedly featuring a former BJP minister, citing lack of evidence, his lawyer said.

Special Magistrate (CBI) Raipur Bhupesh Kumar Basant considered the discharge application of Baghel and granted him relief, noting there was no sufficient evidence to prove the allegations levelled against him in the chargesheet filed in the case, senior counsel Manish Datt told PTI.

The court noted no case is made out against the 63-year-old Congress leader, he said, adding order copy will be made available on Wednesday.

Elated over the development, Baghel, who stepped down as CM after the Congress lost the 2023 assembly polls, took to X and posted "Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs)".

A discharge application is a request to end a criminal case before the trial begins. The court may allow such a plea if it finds lack of sufficient evidence to proceed against the accused.

State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla hailed the CBI court's ruling.

"Truth can be harassed but cannot be defeated," he added.

In October 2017, a controversy erupted following a "sleaze video" allegedly involving then-Public Works Department Minister Rajesh Munat surfaced after the arrest of a senior journalist and close aide of Baghel, Vinod Verma.

In the same year, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station in Raipur on a complaint filed by then BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who alleged he was being harassed over the phone by an unidentified caller who told him that "he had a CD of his 'aaka' (master)".

After investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was arrested from Ghaziabad on October 27, 2017. The police had claimed to have recovered 500 CDs and pen drives, among other items. Verma had then claimed he had a sex CD of a Chhattisgarh minister.

After Verma was arrested, the sleaze video purportedly featuring Munat surfaced, triggering a political slugfest between the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP. Munat lodged a complaint against Baghel and Verma at the Civil Lines police station in Raipur for allegedly tarnishing his image through the "fake CD".

The Chhattisgarh government recommended a CBI probe into the incident.

On September 24, 2018, the CBI filed a chargesheet in its special court here, naming Baghel, Verma and three others as accused persons in the case. Among the other accused, Rinku Khanuja - a Raipur-based automobile dealer - committed suicide in June 2018 when the CBI investigation was still on.

Charges were framed against the accused under sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and 67A of IT Act (whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act).

Baghel, then president of the state Congress, was arrested and sent to jail after he declined to file a bail plea. After spending three days in Raipur Central Jail, Baghel eventually filed a bail plea. He was granted bail by the special CBI court on September 27, 2018.

The former CM and Congress leaders had claimed the action against him was politically motivated.

In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress registered a landslide victory and Baghel was made chief minister. Baghel appointed his aide Verma as political advisor.

During the campaigning, the BJP had targeted Baghel over the CD issue.