New Delhi, 21 July

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday alleged that the ED action against his son was initiated as the Congress was set to raise the issue of "illegal tree felling" in the state assembly.

Days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Chaitanya Baghel in an alleged liquor scam-linked money laundering case, Bhupesh Baghel met the top Congress leadership at the Parliament House complex here and apprised them of the situation.

The senior Congress leader told reporters outside Parliament that he believes that it is his son's "good fortune" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are against him.

"Modi-Shah can tolerate anything, but they cannot tolerate anything against Adani. Otherwise, the raid that happened on 10 March; since then, there was no notice, interrogation. But on his birthday on 18 July, the ED arrested him.

"The same day, Adani was doing illegal tree felling and we had moved an adjournment motion in the Assembly against it. To ensure this is not discussed, all these actions happened," Baghel claimed.

The former CM said his son is not in politics and is a farmer. "I consider it my son's good fortune that the prime minister and the home minister are against him. No one knew the name of my son. Now the whole country knows it," he said.

Baghel said he met Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and apprised them of the situation and the alleged targeting by probe agencies.

Chaitanya was taken into custody by the ED on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following fresh raids at his residence in Bhilai town of Durg district. The father-son duo reside at the same house.

Bhupesh Baghel has alleged that central agencies were being misused to target opposition leaders, but stressed that he trusted the judiciary and would cooperate with them.