BREW HITS BAGHEL'S SON

The 'liquor scam' claims its biggest scalp yet, as the former CM cries political vendetta

- Rahul Noronha

IT'S THE GIANT-SLAYING phase, it seems, for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), after a long hunt for peripheral players. The latest arrest in what they're calling Chhattisgarh's own 'liquor scam': Chaitanya Baghel. The charges: acts linked to the sale of non-excise-paid liquor in 2019-22, when his father Bhupesh Baghel was CM. Besides causing a loss of Rs 2,200-odd crore to the exchequer, the ED alleges, Chaitanya's construction business netted in bribe money from liquor barons. In January, the ED had crested its previous peak in the case by arresting then excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, a Congress tribal MLA.