RAIPUR: Barely three months ahead of the assembly elections, the ED on Wednesday searched the residences of the political adviser to Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, two officers on special duty (OSD), and a Bhilai-based businessman, allegedly in connection with cases under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.Although the ED is yet to release an official statement, sources indicated that these searches, including the ones carried out on Tuesday, are linked to 'Mahadev App', a controversial online betting application through which transactions worth about Rs 5,000 crore have taken place.The searches were conducted on the premises of Vinod Verma, a close relative of CM Baghel and his political adviser who holds a cabinet rank, OSDs Ashish Verma and Manish Banchor, and a local industrialist Vijay Bhatia, who is known to be close to the CM.

This ED action took place on Baghel's birthday.Baghel was scathing in his reaction, tweeting: "Respected PM Ji and Amit Shah Ji, I am grateful to you for sending a priceless gift on my birthday by sending the ED to the premises of my political adviser, OSDs, and my close associates." Congress general secretary K C Venugopal strongly condemned the raids, accusing BJP of resorting to its "dirtiest tricks to intimidate and destabilize Congress".

"We have the support of 3 crore Chhattisgarhis, and such cheap tactics will not affect us.

They only show the BJP's desperation," he tweeted.Congress spokespersons Pawan Khera and Supriya Srinate said that the ongoing ED raids in Chhattisgarh are a clear reaction to all the pre-poll surveys that have predicted a massive defeat for BJP.Vinod Verma, a former journalist, was appointed political adviser to the CM in 2018, shortly after Congress won the election.

He played a key role during the elections in Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, where CM Baghel was assigned the role of Congress observer.Verma was at the centre of a political controversy in 2017 following his arrest in connection with the circulation of an alleged sleaze CD of a minister in the then Raman Singh government.

Raipur police arrested him from his residence in Ghaziabad in October 2017 on charges of blackmail and extortion.

The case was handed over to the CBI.

In December 2017, a special CBI court accepted Verma's bail plea and ordered his release on a bond and surety of Rs 1 lakh each.

The case is pending in court.