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The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Chaitanya Baghel, the son of Chhattisgarh’s former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in a liquor scam case. The action came after the central agency conducted searches at their home in Durg district.

The agency has alleged that a syndicate of officials, politicians and others ensured a state-run firm bought liquor only from select distributors who paid a commission, thereby diverting over Rs 2,000 crore from the state exchequer between 2019 and 2022. Chaitanya Baghel received proceeds of crime generated from the bootlegging of alcohol, claimed the Enforcement Directorate.

Bhupesh Baghel claimed on Friday that the central agency’s action was an attempt to stop him from raising questions in the Assembly about the trees being allegedly felled by the Adani Group. He was referring to the protests by the residents of Tamnar tehsil in Raigarh district against the felling of trees for a coal mine project. Read on.

The Assam Police has arrested 10 persons in connection with the clashes that erupted on Thursday at the site of an eviction drive in the Betbari area of Goalpara district. The violence had resulted in the death of a 19-year-old identified as Shakaur Ali.

Goalpara Senior Superintendent of Police Nabaneet Mahanta claimed that those arrested “were caught on video pelting stones and obstructing officials”.

Authorities had cleared 140 hectares of land in the Paikan Reserve Forest on Saturday, displacing 1,080 families, most of whom were Muslims of Bengali origin. Since then, the displaced families have been living in tents and makeshift tarpaulin huts, which officials had asked them to dismantle. The clashes broke out on Thursday after authorities dug up the road that provided connectivity to the settlement. Read on.

How can Indian democracy allow the open oppression of Bengali-origin Muslims by Assam?

Nearly 50 schools in Bengaluru and about 40 in New Delhi received bomb threats through email that led to students and staff being evacuated. Several schools in Bengaluru received identical emails that claimed that explosive devices containing trinitrotoluene, or TNT, had been planted in the classrooms.

The email added that the explosives had been “skillfully hidden in black plastic bags”. Read on.

Justice Yashwant Varma has moved the Supreme Court challenging the in-house inquiry committee’s report that indicted him in the unaccounted cash row. He has also challenged the recommendation made by Sanjiv Khanna, the chief justice of India when the report was submitted, to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.

Varma has argued that the committee had reached its conclusions without giving him a fair opportunity to respond.

The plea by Varma came ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is due to begin on Monday. An impeachment motion against him could be introduced during the session. Read on.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that the Enforcement Directorate chargesheet against his brother-in-law Robert Vadra was part of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government. The Opposition leader said that he believed his family was “brave enough to withstand any kind of persecution” and expressed confidence that “the truth will eventually prevail”.

Gandhi’s statement came a day after the agency named Vadra in a money-laundering case linked to the purchase and sale of 3.5 acres of land in Gurugram in 2008. The central agency has also attached 43 immovable properties linked to Vadra and his firms. Read on.

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