‘Satta ka khel’: Smriti Irani vs Congress over Bhupesh Baghel-Mahadev row
Is Bhupesh Baghel questioning his own police which filed FIR in the Mahadev Book App case, Union minister Smriti Irani said.
A day after the Enforcement Directorate claimed that Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel received ₹508 crore from the promoters of the embattled Mahadev betting app -- a charge that Baghel strongly refuted -- Union minister Smriti Irani asked whether Baghel was questioning his own government. Mahadev app has been in the news as several Bollywood personalities were recently questioned in connection with this Dubai-based platform. ED said it unearthed a web benami bank account and a confession linked funds of ₹508 crore to some 'Baghel' for election in the state.
"Can there be a bigger joke? If today I catch hold of someone and ask him to take PM Modi's name, will they (ED) interrogate him? It has become very easy to toss someone's reputation," Baghel reacted to the allegations.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh reacted to Smriti Irai's Saturday morning press conference and said as the BJP came out openly to defende ED early in the morning, the collusion between the ED and the BJP in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh got proved.
"FIRs in connection with the Mahadev app were filed in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. In both the states, BJP is not in power. So who is conspiring against Bhupesh Baghel?" Smriti Irani said. "This issue is not a recent one. The FIR was filed in 2022 and the investigations have been going on since then. The Congress is contesting the election through Hawala operators," Smriti Irani said adding that never before in the electoral history had people seen such evidence.
If Smriti Irani has evidence... : TS Singh Deo counters
Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo said if Smriti Irani had evidence, she should have presented them before everyone. "Why is she levelling allegations? If she has information but is not bringing it to light, is she too a party to it?...This is the same ED whose officers have huge sums of money at their houses...We were expecting this to happen right before elections. This is not unexpected. When they are about to lose elections, they are bringing out these things...Even ED's press release has no facts..." the deputy CM said.
Who are Asim Das, Shubham Soni, Chandrabhushan Verma? What is the alleged link with Bhupesh Baghel?
ED said Asim Das, arrested in connection with the Mahadev betting app scam, said he was a cash courier and was sent to India by the app promoters of the UAE to deliver a large amount of cash to the Congress.
Shubham Soni is one of the high-ranking accused of the Mahadev network. ED said it found an email sent by Shubham to Asim Das indicating a link of this web to Baghel.
Chandrabhushan Verma, arrested in the case in August, is an assistant sub-inspector who claimed a close friend of the Chhattisgarh chief minister received money through hawala transactions.
What is Mahadev betting app case?
Mahadav Online Book is the name of the betting site that operated in India from Dubai facilitating illegal betting in live games, poker, cricket, badminton and even elections. Many celebrities endorsed this platform while the platform thrived and branched out funneling the money through benami accounts.