New Delhi, Feb 3 The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Congress MLA and former Chhattisgarh excise minister Kawasi Lakhma in two alleged liquor scam cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate and the state police separately.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of the fact that the former minister was in jail since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 15, 2025 on money laundering charges.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state police arrested Lakhma in a separate case on April 2, 2025.
While granting bail, the bench also took note of the fact that the probe in the two cases are ongoing and moreover, several hundred prosecution witnesses will have to be examined during the trials which are yet to begin.
The bench, however, put a slew of bail conditions on Lakhma and said that the former minister will have to live outside the state and is permitted to appear in courts on hearing dates.
It did not allow the submissions that the accused, being an MLA, be permitted to take part in assembly proceedings.
The bench asked the former minister to submit his passport in the trial court and asked him not to attempt to influence witnesses of the cases.
Besides, Lakhma will have to share his mobile number and whereabouts to the probe agencies during the trial.
It granted the ED and ACB/EOW the liberty to seek cancellation of bail if the accused violates any of the bail conditions.
The single bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Verma had allowed bail pleas of Chaitanya Baghel, son of former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, two cases lodged by the ED and by the Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW.
The liquor "scam" in the state, according to the ED, was orchestrated between 2019 and 2022 when Chhattisgarh was governed by the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.
The alleged scam resulted in a "massive loss" to the state exchequer and filled the pockets of the beneficiaries of a liquor syndicate, it alleged.
According to the ED, Chaitanya Baghel was at the helm of the syndicate behind the alleged liquor scam and personally handled nearly Rs 1,000 crore generated from the scandal.
The ACB/EOW has claimed that Chaitanya Baghel, along with others, managed the proceeds of crime at a higher level and received around Rs 200-250 crore as his share.
The proceeds of crime linked to the scam could exceed Rs 3,500 crore, the state agency had claimed.
The ED, in December last year, filed a final prosecution complaint in the alleged liquor scam case in Chhattisgarh, naming 59 people, taking the total number of accused in the money laundering case to 81.
The final prosecution complaint has now been filed against 59 more persons, against whom investigation has been completed.
The 59 include Soumya Chaurasia, former IAS officer Niranjan Das, liquor licence holders, distributors and excise department officials.
