When the Fifa World Cup begins in Qatar later this year, many fans will miss Paul the Octopus, which had been credited with correctly predicting the outcome of eight games in 2010.

Perhaps, the soccer fans should dial Bhupesh Baghel, the Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress veteran, who had said on August 11 that central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI would now go to Bihar as the Opposition had come to power in the state.

A fortnight later on Wednesday, the CBI and the ED proved Baghel right by carrying out searches in not only Bihar but also Jharkhand.

While investigations are needed and the guilty should be punished, what stands out is a perception that the attention of the central agencies is mostly focused on Opposition-ruled states. So many defections that led to change of guard have taken place in multiple states but it is not known if any raid had been carried out on any of the turncoats or if investigations have been launched into how these switchovers took place.

Bihar

In Bihar, the CBI “searched” 27 locations, besides an under-construction mall in Gurgaon, in a 14-year-old land-for-jobs case in the railways. The swoop, spread across Bihar and Delhi NCR, covered five senior RJD leaders, including two Rajya Sabha members and an MLC.

Not just Baghel, most Indians could have made such a prediction. Like RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav, who had tweeted on Tuesday itself, warning party colleagues of impending raids by the central agencies. “The associates of a frustrated BJP — CBI, ED and IT — are preparing to conduct raids in Bihar very soon. They are assembling in Patna. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is an important day,” Shakti had tweeted.

Wednesday was the day the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar, made up of the Janata Dal United, RJD, Congress, Left and other parties, took the majority test on the floor of the House. The Nitish Kumar-led government won the confidence vote comfortably with the BJP staying away.

CBI sources in Delhi alleged that the mall was linked to Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar deputy chief minister and son of Lalu Prasad who was railway minister in the UPA government.

In the Assembly, Tejashwi denied the allegations. “Intimidation does not work here. Sending three ‘jamais’ (the ED, CBI and the income tax

department) is not going to scare us. The BJP is looking like a wedding procession without the groom,” he said.

Jharkhand

The ED raided multiple locations in JMM-governed Jharkhand and other states, probing an alleged money-laundering angle to an illegal mining case.

The raids came at a time allegations have surfaced that attempts are being made to buy off MLAs in Jharkhand and topple the Hemant Soren government in which the JMM and the Congress are partners.

In keeping with the unwritten standard operating procedure of such operations, unnamed ED “sources” were quoted as disclosing that two AK-47 rifles, 60 live rounds and two magazines had been seized from a house taken on rent by a businessman in Ranchi. Later, state police sources said the weapons belonged to two policemen posted as bodyguards.

The Opposition BJP claimed the businessman was close to chief minister Soren. But the JMM said the businessmen had close links with BJP leader and former chief minister Raghubar Das.

“The media has several photographs of Raghubar Das and Prem Prakash Sahu (the businessman) together at social gatherings. Just show us one photograph of chief minister Hemant Soren with Prem Prakash Sahu. We would like agencies to probe deep into the antecedents of Prem Prakash Sahu and find out who gave him contracts when the BJP was in power in the state,” said Supriyo Bhattacharya, JMM central general secretary and spokesperson.

Bhattacharya underlined that Jharkhand had been in the limelight 24 hours earlier when it signed a scholarship pact with a UK agency. “We have seen central agencies being used against non-BJP-ruled states. It has been seen in Delhi where the education model was lauded by the international media and this was followed by ED raids,” Bhattacharya said.

Chief minister Soren had earlier accused the BJP of using all tricks to topple the JMM-Congress-RJD government in the state. “It is using central agencies and also trying to influence coalition parties’ MLAs to topple the government. However, they have not succeeded in the past and will not succeed in future, either,” Soren had said after three Congress MLAs were arrested with cash in Calcutta earlier this month.

Raid after raid

Here’s how the CBI and the ED have raided Opposition politicians or people close to them in non-BJP-ruled states over the past 13 months:

2022

Aug. 19: The CBI searches the home of Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in granting liquor licences.

Aug. 11: The CBI arrests Birbhum Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal in connection with cross-border cattle smuggling.

Aug. 11 and July 19: The ED summons CPM leader and former finance minister of Kerala, Thomas Isaac, to seek details of his personal assets as part of a probe into alleged Fema violations by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. Isaac challenges the ED move, following which Kerala High Court offers him relief.

Aug. 5 and 7: The ED carries out searches under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on 21 premises in Chhattisgarh in connection with alleged smuggling of gold and other precious metals. Chief minister Baghel says the state is being targeted.

July 31: The ED arrests Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut after raiding his Mumbai home to probe alleged money-laundering.

July 23: The ED raids and later arrests Bengal industry and commerce minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with a teacher recruitment scam.

July 8: The ED raids 17 locations in Jharkhand linked to Soren aide Pankaj Mishra in connection with a money-laundering probe. He is later arrested.

June 17: The CBI raids the Jodhpur home of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s brother Agrasen Gehlot in connection with an alleged fertiliser scam. In July 2020, the ED had raided Agrasen on the same allegation.

June 6: The ED searches several locations connected to Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in a money-laundering probe. He is arrested on June 7.

May 26: Just before the announcement of the Mumbai civic elections, the ED raids the premises of then Shiv Sena minister Anil Parab in a money-laundering case.

May 20: The CBI raids the homes of Lalu Prasad and family members in connection with alleged corruption dating to the time the RJD patriarch was railway minister.

Feb. 23: The ED raids the home of then Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik over alleged links to Dawood Ibrahim and money-laundering. He is arrested the same day.

Jan. 15: The ED searches more than 10 premises in poll-bound Punjab, including those of a relative of then Congress chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a money-laundering probe related to illegal sand mining.

2021

Oct. 11: The CBI searches the home of former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh in connection with the leak of confidential documents relating to a preliminary corruption inquiry against him. Deshmukh is arrested a month later by the ED on money-laundering charges.

July 18: The ED raids Deshmukh’s house in Nagpur in connection with an extortion case.

(Dev Raj reported from Patna and Animesh Bisoee from Jamshedpur)