Raipur: Economic Offence Wing (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Chhattisgarh have once again intensified their investigation into an alleged coal levy scam worth around Rs 540 crores that allegedly surfaced in the state between 2020 to 2022.
The sleuths of the agencies have raided multiple locations across many states in connection with the case on Friday, August 16. According to the reports raids have been conducted in premises linked to suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official and accused in the case, Sameer Vishnoi in Rajasthan.
Other than Vishnoi, searches have also been carried out on locations linked to now suspended former secretary at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Office (CMO) Saumya Chaurasiya and suspended IAS official Ranu Sahu, both accused in the multi-crore scam.
The officials of the agency raided premises linked to Chaurasiya in Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru along carrying out searches in location linked to Ranu Sahu in Jharkhand. The raids have been conducted in connection with the fresh FIRs lodged by the agencies against the trio.
Its been further reported that other than carrying out search operations on locations linked to the accused officials, the sleuths of the EOW/ACB have also raided a few locations in Bhilai and Korba of Chhattisgarh.
EOW/ACB investigation into the matter
Notably, the EOW launched a fresh investigation into the case by registered a total of three fresh FIR against suspended IAS official Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi and Saumya Chaurasiya, the then deputy secretary at Chhattisgarh CMO during the regime of the previous government under Congress.
According to the reports, the fresh FIRs have been filed under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act on charges of accumulating assets beyond one’s capacity. The cases lodged against the accused are believed to be stem from the investigation carried out by the agencies based on an earlier FIR registered in January this year.
The case against Chaurasiya reportedly pertains to procurement of 29 properties categorised as immovable assets worth over 9 crores by Chaurasiya and her family members between 2021 and 2022. Similar charges of acquiring properties worth Rs 4 crores by Sahu and her family members are under scrutiny by the agency which were acquired within the years of her service.
Further, another accused Vishnoi has also been charged with similar accusations of raising properties worth Rs 5 crore on his wife name which is much higher than his regular income indicating earning from dubious sources.
It must be noted that EOW registered a case against as many as 35 accused including Saumya Chaurasia, Ranu Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi, Suryakant Tiwari, former minister and Congress leader, Amarjit Bhagat, Congress MLA, Devendra Yadav, former MLA Chandrika Prasad Rai and others in connection with the case in January this year.
Alleged Coal Levy Scam
The case registered by the EOW stems from a previous investigation report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in which the premier agency had claimed to unearth a multi-crore scam involving a cartel.
After launching a probe into the matter in October 2022, ED claimed that a multi-crore coal levy scam has flourished in the state in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was extorted for every ton of coal transported in the state by a cartel of senior bureaucrats, coal businessmen, politicians and middlemen.
ED alleged that the amendments made to induce a mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the district magistrate for the coal transporters led Suryakant Tiwari, the main kingpin to smoothly operate the extortion racket under which an extortion money of Rs25 per metric ton was fixed for the transporters and coal businessmen to acquire the said certificate.
Notably many of the accused including kingpin Suryakant Tiwari, Ranu Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi, Saumya Chaurasiya and others are in custody of the agencies while assets worth hundreds of crore linked to the accused have been attached/confiscated by the investigative agencies in connection with the case.
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