Bilaspur, Jul 30 The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday stayed further proceedings before a special CBI court in Raipur against former Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel in a case related to alleged circulation of a sleaze video purportedly featuring an ex-minister of the BJP.
Justice Radhakishan Agrawal passed the interim order while hearing Baghel's petition challenging the January 24, 2026, order of the Special Judge (CBI), Raipur, which had set aside his discharge in the 2017 case by a magisterial court, and directed the trial court to frame charges against him.
According to the order uploaded on the High Court's website, Baghel's counsel Harshwardhan Parganiha submitted that the Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI), Raipur, discharged the petitioner from the case on March 4, 2025, after considering the material available on record.
He said the Central Bureau of Investigation subsequently filed a criminal revision petition, which was allowed by the Special Judge (CBI) on January 24, 2026. The revisional court set aside the discharge order and asked the trial court to proceed with framing of charges against the former CM.
Parganiha argued that the revisional court had exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction and that its order was legally unsustainable. He urged the HC in Bilaspur to stay further proceedings before the trial court during the pendency of his client's petition.
The CBI counsel opposed the plea, contending the revisional court rightly set aside the discharge order after considering the material on record and that the HC should not interfere with the ruling.
The central agency also questioned the maintainability of Baghel's petition.
After hearing both sides, the High Court directed that further proceedings against Baghel (65) in the case pending before the Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI), Raipur, shall remain stayed until further orders.
The matter has been listed for hearing in the first week of September.
The controversy dates back to October 2017, when a purported sex CD allegedly involving then- Public Works Department minister Rajesh Munat of the BJP surfaced, triggering a political row in the state.
In October 2017, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station in Raipur on a complaint filed by then-BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who stated that he "was being harassed over the phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his 'aaka' (master)".
After investigation, a police team was sent to Delhi and senior journalist Vinod Verma was arrested from Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) on October 27, 2017. Police had then claimed to have recovered 500 CDs and pen drives, among other items.
Verma, a close confident of Baghel, then claimed he had a sex CD of a Chhattisgarh minister.
After the video surfaced in Raipur, Munat lodged a police complaint against Baghel and Verma, alleging they had conspired to tarnish his image by circulating a fake CD. The then-BJP government recommended a CBI probe in the sleaze CD case.
On September 24, 2018, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Baghel, Verma and three others under IPC sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 67A of the IT Act (whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act).
One of the accused, Raipur-based automobile dealer Rinku Khanuja, committed suicide in June 2018 when the investigation in the case was still on.
Baghel, then-Chhattisgarh Congress president, was arrested and remanded to judicial custody after declining to seek bail. He was granted bail by the Special CBI Court on September 27, 2018, after spending three nights in Raipur Central Jail.
The veteran politician and his party Congress had consistently maintained that the case was politically motivated. In the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections held in November 2018, the Congress stormed to power after posting a landslide victory. Baghel became the chief minister, while Verma was appointed his political adviser.
The case remained largely dormant for several years before proceedings resumed before the special court last year.
