Raipur/Bhilai: Chaitanya Baghel, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was questioned for approximately four hours at the Bhilai police station on Thursday in connection with a violent assault on a professor that occurred about 20 days ago.
Following the interrogation, police officials, including CSP Harish Patil and station in-charge Mahesh Dhruv, seized Chaitanya's mobile phone. After the questioning, Chaitanya briefly addressed the media, stating that he received a notice from the police around 8 PM on Wednesday and complied by appearing to record his statement. He refrained from discussing specific questions raised during the interrogation, citing the investigation is underway.
Additionally, police confiscated the mobile phone of Chaitanya's sister, Deepti, who was questioned the previous day regarding the same incident. Following Chaitanya’s arrival at the station, several close associates of Bhupesh Baghel, including OSD Manish Banchhor and Charoda Mayor Nirmal Kosare, also visited.
Sources revealed that police asked Chaitanya around 20 questions from noon to 4 PM, but he only answered a few. He refused to respond to the rest.
Seeing the high-profile nature of the case, police are carefully examining Chaitanya's relationship with the professor, whether he knows the assailants, and any potential involvement in the attack on Assistant Professor Vinod Sharma of Khubchand Baghel Mahavidyalaya, Bhilai-3. Following deterioration in his condition, the seriously injured professor was transferred to AIIMS Raipur.
So far, two suspects have been arrested in connection with the assault: Rohan Upadhyay from Mumbai and Rohit Pandey from Rewa jail, both currently on remand. Chaitanya was summoned after the interrogation of these individuals.
CSP Harish Patil confirmed that five suspects have been apprehended in this case, while the main three accused remain at large. Chaitanya's summons stemmed from information obtained during the questioning of Praveen Sharma, a close associate of Chaitanya.
The incident involved Professor Vinod Sharma, 57, who was assaulted by six individuals on motorcycles. The attackers verbally abused him before physically assaulting him with sticks, resulting in multiple fractures.
As part of their investigation, police have arrested three of the six suspects and are actively searching for the remaining three. Arrests made on the basis of CCTV footage and mobile tower data available related to the incident which occurred on August 19. Police also identified key suspects Prince alias Prasun Pandey, Aman alias Utkarsh Dwivedi, and Karan Pathak from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
According to the investigation, the assault was orchestrated by Probir Kumar Sharma, a contractor with the Bhilai-Charoda Corporation, and further charges have been filed against him and his associates for criminal conspiracy.
Posters of the absconding suspects Probir Kumar Sharma, Shivam Mishra, and Dheeraj Vastrakar have been distributed in the area surrounding the old Bhilai police station. Durg SP Jitendra Shukla stated that efforts to locate the absconding suspects are under progress.
