RAIPUR: Police in Chhattisgarh has arrested a sitting MLA of the Indian National Congress (INC) party in connection with a cheating and forgery case. Baleshwar Sahu, an MLA from Chhattisgarh’s Jaijaipur assembly constituency was arrested on January 9. Sahu was remanded to judicial custody till January 22 after a CJM court rejected his bail petition on Friday.
The action was taken in connection with a complaint filed by Rajkumar Sharma, a resident of Paraswani who earlier had accused the Congress MLA for cheating Rs 42 lakhs from him. On the basis of Sharma’s complaint, the Police had registered an FIR into the matter in October 2025.
According to details, MLA Baleshwar Sahu, the then manager of the district co-operative committee, Bamnadih from 2015-20 along with another accused Gautam Rathore had advised Sharma to take a Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan against Sharma’s 50 acres of agricultural land. The duo had also asked Sharma to open an account in a private bank and had allegedly collected blank cheques from him.
As per complainant, the accused later transferred Rs 24 lakhs from his account to the bank accounts of MLA Baleshwar Sahu and his wife’s by using the blank cheques. Sharma had further alleged that the accused also forged his signature, thumbprint to withdrew a total of Rs 42 lakhs and 78 thousands from his account.
The police had booked MLA Sahu and Gautam Rathore under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code on October 3, 2025.
