In a 2017 alleged sex CD case allegedly featuring a former BJP minister, a special CBI court in Raipur discharged  Bhupesh Baghel, a senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Chhattisgarh, claiming a lack of evidence, according to his attorney.

Baghel's discharge plea was reviewed by Special Magistrate (CBI), Raipur, Bhupesh Kumar Basant, who granted him relief on Tuesday, according to Senior counsel Manish Datt, who also told PTI that there was insufficient evidence to support the accusations made against him in the chargesheet submitted in the case. The attorney said that a copy of the order would be made available on Wednesday, noting that the court had not found any evidence against the 63-year-old Congress leader. 

Meanwhile, Baghel elated by the decision, who resigned as Chief Minister after Congress lost the 2023 assembly elections, shared a post on X saying, "Satyamev Jayate" (truth always wins). A discharge application is a request to close a criminal case before the trial starts. The court may approve it if there isn’t enough evidence to continue against the accused. Sushil Anand Shukla, chief of the State Congress communication wing, too praised the CBI court's decision. "Truth can be harassed but cannot be defeated," he stated. In October 2017, a controversy broke out after a "sleaze video" allegedly featuring Rajesh Munat, who was the Public Works Department Minister at the time, surfaced. The issue gained attention following the arrest of senior journalist Vinod Verma, who was known to be a close aide of Baghel.

In the same year, then-BJP leader Prakash Bajaj filed a complaint alleging that he was being harassed over the phone by an unknown caller who claimed that "he had a CD of his 'aaka' (master)"; this led to the filing of a blackmail and extortion case at the Pandri police station in Raipur. After an investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi, and Verma was arrested from Ghaziabad on October 27, 2017. The police claimed to have found 500 CDs, pen drives, and other items during the search. Verma then stated that he possessed a sex CD of a Chhattisgarh minister. Following Verma's arrest, a controversial video allegedly featuring Munat surfaced, leading to a heated political dispute between the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP. Munat filed a complaint at Civil Lines police station in Raipur against Baghel and Verma, accusing them of damaging his reputation with a "fake CD."

The Chhattisgarh government recommended a CBI investigation into the case. On September 24, 2018, the CBI filed a chargesheet in its special court, naming Baghel, Verma, and three others as accused. Among the accused, Rinku Khanuja, a Raipur-based automobile dealer, tragically took his own life in June 2018 while the CBI investigation was still ongoing. The charges against the accused include sections 469 (forgery to harm someone's reputation), 471 (using a forged document as if it were genuine), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with section 67A (publishing or transmitting sexually explicit content online) of the Information Technology Act. Baghel, who was the state Congress president at the time, was arrested and sent to jail after refusing to apply for bail.

After spending three days in Raipur Central Jail, he decided to file a bail plea and was granted bail by the special CBI court on September 27, 2018. Baghel and other Congress leaders claimed that the action against him was politically motivated. In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress won by a huge margin, and Baghel became the chief minister. He later appointed his close associate, Verma, as his political advisor. During the election campaign, the BJP attacked Baghel over the CD issue.