Malkangiri: Former Chhattisgarh minister and sitting Congress MLA from Konta constituency, Kawasi Lakhma, has shifted to Odisha’s Malkangiri district, complying with strict conditions imposed by the Supreme Court while granting him interim bail in a money laundering case.
Lakhma has been prohibited from entering Chhatisgarh except for attending court proceedings.
According to sources, the MLA received a rousing reception from Congress leaders and workers upon his arrival in Malkangiri on Saturday. A house has been rented for him at Reclamation Colony. He is being provided security by the Chhattisgarh government.
He also held a meeting with the Malkangiri district Congress president and other party leaders.
Sources added that Lakhma chose Malkangiri as his interim base for convenience and proximity. The Konta assembly constituency is in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, which shares a border with Odisha’s Malkangiri. The proximity will allow him to remain relatively close to his constituency while adhering to the court’s directive.
On February 3, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant granted interim bail to the Congress leader in two separate cases related to an alleged liquor scam between 2019 and 2022 — one involving money laundering probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the other a corruption case handled by the state’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Lakhma, a six-time MLA, served as the Excise Minister in the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government. He was first arrested by ED on January 15, 2025. The ACB/EOW arrested him again on September 24 last year in a separate corruption case linked to the alleged scam while he was already in judicial custody on money laundering charges.
