Chhattisgarh Coal Levy 'Scam': ED Raids IAS Officer, Others In Raipur, Ranchi, Bengaluru

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia was among those named by the ED. The federal investigation agency launched a probe into this case in October last year.

File Photo of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at multiple premises in Chhattisgarh, including that of an IAS officer, and other locations on Friday in connection with ongoing money laundering probe into an alleged coal levy scam in the state, news agency PTI reported officials as informing. The searches are being undertaken in the state capital Raipur, Korba, Durg, and Ranchi in Jharkhand and Bengaluru (Karnataka).

The ED teams were provided security by armed personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Premises linked to Anbalagan P — secretary of water resources department, tourism and culture-- were also covered, as per PTI.

The 2004 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has earlier served as the secretary of the mineral resources department in the incumbent Congress government.

His wife Alarmelmangai D is also an IAS officer (2004 batch). She is posted as secretary of the urban administration and development department and finance department. She has earlier served as the Director, geology, and mining, in the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel government.

Some politicians, their linked businesses, and some coal traders are also being raided, officials informed, as per PTI.

ED Alleged 'Massive Scam'

The federal investigation agency launched a probe into this case in October last year after it raided another IAS officer of the state, Sameer Vishnoi, and some businessmen.

The investigation relates to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen", as per the ED.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia, Vishnoi, coal trader and alleged "main kingpin of the scam" Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and another coal businessman Sunil Agrawal have been arrested in this case so far. 

The ED had claimed in a statement that Chaurasia, Vishnoi, and some coal traders allegedly linked to them "used" their relatives to create "benami" assets after it attached their properties worth more than Rs 150 crore in December.

The agency alleged that a "grand conspiracy" was hatched in the natural resources-rich state to perpetrate a coal levy 'scam' in which Rs 540 crore has been "extorted" over the last two years.

The money laundering case stems from an Income Tax department complaint that was registered following raids by the taxman in June, 2022.

The agency has called Suryakant Tiwari the "main henchman" at the ground level who allegedly deployed his employees in various regions to extort money from coal transporters and industrialists and his team was physically coordinating with lower-level government functionaries and coal transporters and representatives of user companies. 

"This kind of systemic extortion was not possible without the knowledge and active participation of the state machinery," the agency alleged.

(With Agency Inputs)