He was already an undertrial when ED arrested him on 11 August. On Thursday the agency searched the house.

He was already an Economic Offences Wing undertrial when the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on 11 August. On Thursday the same agency searched the house.

The Directorate on Thursday searched the residence of Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Congress treasurer Ram Gopal Agrawal in Audyogik Ward, Dhamtari. Further searches were reported in Raipur. These are searches in an alleged liquor-scam file. They are not convictions. The Directorate had not issued a detailed recovery statement at the time of the reports this desk holds. This page will not invent a cash figure, a locker, or a document list that the agency has not put out.

Congress workers protested outside the house. Dhamtari Member of the Legislative Assembly Omkar Sahu was among them. A protest at a raid is a political fact. It is not a legal defence and not a finding of innocence.

Agrawal's 11 August arrest came while he was already an EOW undertrial. Two agencies, two holdings, one man. The liquor-scam file is the file ED has named. The search as reported is the liquor-scam search.

State Congress chief Deepak Baij alleged that central agencies are used to intimidate opposition leaders. His words, as locked here, are these: ED and CBI action in Chhattisgarh is no longer a new thing. ED, CBI, Income Tax and other agencies have made it a routine to target and intimidate opposition leaders. That is a party president's charge. It is not a court's finding. This desk will print it as his allegation.

The agency's case on the liquor years is older than Thursday. ED has alleged a 2019–2022 liquor syndicate under the then Bhupesh Baghel government that "hijacked" the excise department, with an alleged loss of ₹2,883 crore. The Economic Offences Wing has said proceeds could exceed ₹3,500 crore. ₹2,883 crore is the ED excise-loss figure. ₹3,500 crore is the EOW proceeds figure. They are not the same audit. This desk will not add them and will not treat either as a proved loss.

ED has filed six chargesheets naming 81 accused. The named among those 81, on this card, include former Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma, Chaitanya Baghel, former Excise Commissioner Niranjan Das, retired Indian Administrative Service officer Anil Tuteja, and former Chief Minister's Office Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia. Six chargesheets. Eighty-one names. A chargesheet is a prosecution paper. It is not a conviction.

The same day's Raipur desk also reported teams in Durg-Bhilai, an eight-member team at the Dhamtari house in the wee hours, and searches at Anupam Nagar in Raipur and at a nephew's house in Dhamtari. Those are reported search points. The nephew is not named on the card. This desk will not invent that name. Durg-Bhilai is on the map as a team location, not as a recovery.

What Thursday does not contain is a sealed inventory. No detailed recovery statement had been issued. A raid without a recovery note is still a raid. It is not a rupee line this desk will write.

Until a court writes, the public ledger is a former state-Congress treasurer who was already an EOW undertrial, arrested by ED on 11 August, and searched on 20 August at Audyogik Ward, with further points in Raipur, Anupam Nagar, a nephew's Dhamtari house and Durg-Bhilai. Six chargesheets. Eighty-one accused. ₹2,883 crore as an alleged excise loss. ₹3,500 crore as alleged EOW proceeds. A protest led also by Omkar Sahu. A party chief's charge of intimidation. No recovery list. Allegations, not convictions. Public excise money is why the file sits here. The house in Dhamtari is only where Thursday's team stood.