Raipur, Nov 25
A 38-year-old driver who was arrested by officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Mahadev gambling app case on November 3 from Raipur city, for allegedly being a link in the money chain between the main accused in the case and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, has retracted his statement given to the ED and told the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that he is being made a scapegoat and that he never supplied any protection money to Baghel or any other politician.
On November 3, four days before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls, Aseem Das and a constable, Bhim Singh Yadav (41), were arrested by the ED and Rs 5.39 crores in cash was allegedly seized from Das’s car. He was nabbed from a hotel on VIP road in Raipur city, and during further probe, Rs 15.59 crore was allegedly found in different bank accounts.
As per the ED, Das in his statement said that he, on the instructions of Shubham Soni, a wanted accused in the Mahadev app case, came to Raipur to deliver the money to “political executives” of the “Indian Congress party” for “election expenditure”. ED told the court that Das admitted to them that the amount was to be delivered to ruling political executives and named CM Baghel as the intended final recipient for the cash.
Further, Soni, in his email submission on November 2 against summons issued to him by ED on October 26, claimed that Das acted as a liaison with Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh.
However, Das, while in judicial custody, wrote a letter on November 10 to the court claiming that he is being made a scapegoat in the case by Soni and that the money found on him was meant for starting a construction business. Das’s judicial custody ended on Friday and the lawyer representing him in court requested the judge to take this letter on record.
Das’s lawyer Shoaib Alvi said, “My client just wanted to put forth his side of the story. On Friday, I told the court to take his letter on record.
The money found with my client was to start a construction business and was not to be given to any politician.” Das, in his letter, admitted that two of his visits to Dubai in October this year were arranged by Soni, who is a childhood friend. In the letter, Das claims, “Soni said we will do construction business.
He said he has relocated to Europe and will take me with him. On that day I was asked to go to Raipur airport to pick up a car from the parking lot and take it to a hotel on VIP road and was further asked to check into a room. I was also given an iPhone. I was then asked to park the car at a location where a person came on a bike and put the cash in the car and left.”
“I was asked over the phone to go back to my hotel room, and within some time ED officials came to my room and took me with them. I forcefully signed a statement in English but I do not know its contents. I have never supplied any money to any politician. I am being made a scapegoat,” he claims.
Day after Das’s arrest, a video of Soni surfaced on social media – it was also shared by the BJP on their social media handles – wherein he claimed he had paid Rs 508 crore to CM Baghel as protection money to run the gambling app. Baghel denied the charge and made counter allegations against the BJP and ED. “First of all, I do not know this person nor have I ever met him in the way he is claiming. I can’t say if he was a part of any gathering or function.
Secondly, this person is claiming that he is the owner of ‘Mahadev App’. Surprisingly, even the ED, the agency which has been investigating this case for months, was not aware of this and till two days ago, the ED was calling him a manager,” he said.
