The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which is probing the alleged money laundering angle of the Mahadev online gaming app scam, has claimed that officials connected to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister’s Office had facilitated hefty kickbacks.
The ED has accused Chhattisgarh Police Assistant Sub Inspector Chandra Bushan Verma — one of the four arrested in the case so far — of bribing his seniors with the help of Vinod Verma, a political adviser to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
At a press conference on August 24, Mr. Vinod Verma refuted these charges, denying any association with Mr. Chandra Bushan Verma. A 57-year-old ex-journalist, Mr. Vinod Verma was one of several of Mr. Baghel’s aides whose homes were raided by the ED on Wednesday, an action he termed as “loot and dacoity”.
₹65 crore bribes
In a statement issued late Wednesday, following the arrests of Mr. Chandra Bhushan Verma and three others, the ED had said that “although ASI Chandra Bushan Verma is not a very senior officer in the Police hierarchy, but through his relationship with Vinod Verma (Political Advisor to CM) and with the help of money power received from kickbacks sent by Ravi Uppal [one of the two main accused] in Dubai, he has managed to influence senior officers”. The three others arrested were businessmen brothers Sunil Dammani and Anil Dammani, and Satish Chandrakar.
The ED pegged the cumulative amount of the purported bribes given to senior police officers and politicians at ₹65 crore. The agency also claimed that a huge amount of incriminating documents were seized during the raids conducted on August 21 and 23.
‘ED has no proof’
Mr. Vinod Verma contested both the claims. “The ED is saying that I am involved in laundering of ₹65 crore, I want to say I have not laundered even a single penny. I am not related to ASI Verma. What proof do they have that I am related to him ? Also, what proof do they have that we were in touch? This raid is based on hearsay and statement of just one person against me. They have no evidence at all,” he said, at the press conference held at the State Congress headquarters in Raipur before leaving for Delhi with Mr. Baghel.
On the seizures made from his residence in Raipur, Mr. Vinod Verma said that he had produced cash receipts of all the cash (which he said amounted to over ₹2 lakh, including a sum received as a gift at his son’s wedding) and jewellery (bought between 2005 and 2023) found by the ED.
“They still seized everything and took away. Whatever I had at home was accounted for, all six members of my family have a source of income,” he said.
Political angle
Mr. Vinod Verma claimed that all the allegations made by the ED were based on a “fictional news article” published in a magazine last October. He noted that, in December 2022, he had filed a police complaint against the magazine and the writer, displaying copies of both the documents. He added that he would now file a defamation case against the magazine as well.
He drew a parallel to his 2017 arrest on charges of extortion in connection with a CD (which he claims was later dropped by the Central Bureau of Investigation) and said that the BJP-led Central government was working to decimate the Opposition by such means.
“This is dictatorship by [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and [Union Home Minister] Amit Shah. These actions are being taken in view of the political situation in Chhattisgarh that is unfavourable for the BJP and they want to drag people who are close to the Chief Minister. I will be happy if ED proves me wrong and brings evidence,” he said.
