Raipur: In a notable development, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Chhattisgarh has arrested IAS Ranu Sahu, former OSD Chhattisgarh CMO Saumya Chaurasiya and coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari, all accused in the alleged Chhattisgarh coal levy scam.
The trio was arrested by the agency on Monday, March 3, halting their release from prison, days after they were granted bail by the Supreme Court. The accused were arrested while they produced before a special court of Raipur.
Notably the agency had earlier demanded remand of all the accused to which the court agreed on Monday and sent them in custody. The Supreme Court has recently granted bail to Chaurasiya, Sahu, Tiwari and other nine accused, citing long trial in the case.
The decision of the special court however has thwarted the hopes of immediate relief for the accused.
Significantly, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in February this year had also provisionally attached over 100 properties of Suryakant Tiwari and others accused in coal levy scam.
The attached properties included bank balances, vehicles, cash, jewelry and land, cumulatively valued at Rs. 49.73 Crore belonging to Suryakant Tiwari and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
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 also attached by ED before.
Notably, the agency has arrested 11 individuals and filed three Prosecution Complaints against 26 accused persons before the Special Court (PMLA). The case is being currently investigated by the ED and other agencies.
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.
