Bhupesh Baghel, accused of framing BJP leader in sleaze CD case, discharged by court
A special court in Raipur concluded that the CBI could not substantiate the allegations levelled against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in its charge sheet
RAIPUR: A special CBI court has discharged senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel who was accused of trying to frame a Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajesh Munat in a sleaze CD case in 2017, his lawyer said.
Special Magistrate (CBI) Raipur, Bhupesh Kumar Basant, granted relief to the former chief minister after reviewing his discharge application, stating that the allegations against him in the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could not be substantiated.
“We had moved a discharge petition which the court had accepted and it was found that no evidence was found about making and distributing the alleged CD,” Baghel’s counsel Manish Datt said.
Datt added that the order was passed on Tuesday but the detailed court order is expected to be available on Thursday.
Baghel later took to social media platform ‘X’ and posted, “Satyamev Jayate (Truth alone triumphs).”
Chhattisgarh BJP leader Sacchinand Upasane said, “I don’t know how the case was investigated by the agency. I was the first one who held a press conference after Baghel distributed the CD. There was ample evidence ...I believe that the state government should challenge the order of the special court,” Upasane, who is also the state unit’s spokesperson, said.
The case dates back to October 2017 when a “porn video”, purportedly involving the then-public works department minister Rajesh Munat surfaced.
The sleaze CD case has its origins in a complaint filed by BJP’s Rajesh Moonat back in 2017 when he was a minister in the Chhattisgarh government. Moonat had alleged that journalist Vinod Verma and Bhupesh Baghel, who was then the state Congress chief, were using what he had described as a “sex CD”, to blackmail him.
Verma, who had taken up an assignment with the state Congress as its strategist, was arrested in October 2017. Baghel was arrested in September 2018, around the same time that the CBI filed a chargesheet against Verma, Baghel and three others.
Baghel, who was leading his party’s campaign against the Raman Singh government in the state elections at the time, refused to seek bail and remained in judicial custody for a couple of days.
The then BJP-led state government recommended a CBI probe.
CBI, which had taken over the case on the recommendation of the BJP government in the state. filed a chargesheet in September 2018. The charge sheet claimed that the ‘morphed’ CD of Rajesh Munat was commissioned by BJP leader Kailash Murarka and then given to the Congress for circulation. Murarka was subsequently expelled from the BJP.
The charge sheet accused Baghel, Verma, and three others of offences under sections 469 (forgery for harming reputation), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67A of the IT Act (publication of sexually explicit material). One of the accused, Raipur-based automobile dealer Rinku Khanuja, died by suicide in June 2018 during the investigation.
