In a significant development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has notified a special court in Raipur that Asim Das, previously arrested, insists that the unaccounted Rs 5.4 crore found on him before the assembly elections was indeed intended for former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.
Asim Das, who was arrested earlier, claims that the Rs 5.4 crore in unaccounted cash found on him just before the assembly elections was indeed meant to be delivered to the Baghel.
The ED, in its latest chargesheet filed before the special court, quoted Asim Das’s statement, asserting that he was coerced into a handwritten retraction of his earlier statement given to the ED on November 3. After the change of government in the state, ED recorded a fresh statement of Asim on December 12.
The agency highlighted, “He retracted from his statement dated November 3 under the influence of someone who arrived with his (Asim Das’s) advocate (in jail). This person gave him a typed document and asked him to reproduce it in his handwriting. He didn’t know to whom the retraction was forwarded to and signed it, believing it would be beneficial to his case.”
Asim Das’s latest statement affirms the authenticity of his initial statement given on November 3, the ED emphasized.
After his arrest on November 2, ED claims Asim said Dubai-based Shubham Soni, one of the promoters of Mahadev, sent him to deliver the cash to Baghel. ED said Soni himself claimed subsequently that he was a promoter and paid Rs 508 crore so far to the then CM.
The ED examined the phone recovered from Asim and corroborated the latter’s statement through voice messages from Soni regarding the alleged payments to Baghel.
Asim, in his latest statement, revealed that he had visited Dubai twice in October ahead of the elections on the instructions of Soni. On his second visit on October 25, he was told by Soni that he would be provided cash to be delivered to Baghel.
