Raipur: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached over 100 properties of Suryakant Tiwari and others accused in Chhattisgarh’s coal levy scam, said the agency in an official statement released on Monday, February 3.
“ED’s Raipur Zonal Office has provisionally attached over 100 movable and immovable properties, including bank balances, vehicles, cash, jewelry and land, cumulatively valued at Rs. 49.73 Crore on 30/01/2025 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. These assets belong to Suryakant Tiwari and others involved in a case related to an illegal coal levy scam,” reads the statement.
It is worth mentioning here that numerous movable and immovable properties, belonging to IAS Ranu Sahu, IAS Sameer Bishnoi, IAS Jai Prakash Maurya, Saumya Chaurasia, the then OSD to the then Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Ram Gopal Agrawal, Ram Pratap Singh, Vinod Tiwari, Chandra Dev Prasad Rai, and Devendra Singh Yadav worth approx. Rs. 55.37 Crore were already attached by ED.
With the latest inclusion, properties worth Rs 270 crore belonging to the accused individuals have already been attached till date. The agency has arrested 11 individuals and filed three Prosecution Complaints against 26 accused persons before the Special Court (PMLA), which has taken cognizance of the complaints filed. The case is further being investigated by the agency.
ED began its probe into the matter in October 2022 and claimed to unearth a multi-crore (Rs 540 Crore) coal levy scam 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 extortion money of Rs25 per metric ton was fixed for the transporters and coal businessmen to acquire the said certificate.
Based on ED’s investigation, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) registered a case against as many as 35 accused including Saumya Chaurasia, IAS 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 last year.
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