Raipur: As many as six accused named in the multi-crore coal levy scam worth around Rs 540 cr were released from jail on May 31, two days after they were granted bail by Supreme court.
Six accused namely, suspended IAS Ranu Sahu, former OSD to ex-CM of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, Saumya Chaurasiya, suspended IAS Sameer Bishnoi, Rajnikant Tiwari, Virendra Jaiswal and Sandeep Naik were released after the apex court grants them relief with strict conditions.
The SC on Thursday granted bail to eight accused of whom two individuals Suryakant Tiwari and Nikhil Chandrakar were not released from jail due to other cases pending against them.
According to the details, the accused have been asked to stay outside of Chhattisgarh and submit the details of their new addresses to the police within a week.
The court has also instructed the accused to submit their passports. They have been further instructed to co-operate in the ongoing investigation of the case.
The accused were arrested in connection with the multi-crore scams flourished allegedly under the regime of previous Congress government in the state. They have been lodging in prison since the past two years.
Coal Levy Scam
Enforcement Directorate (ED) began its probe into the matter in October 2022 and claimed to unearth 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. Tiwari is lodged at Raipur jail.
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.
Earlier EOW and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Chhattisgarh arrested IAS Ranu Sahu, former OSD Chhattisgarh CMO Saumya Chaurasiya and coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari, all accused in the coal levy scam after they were granted bail by the Supreme Court in March this year. The accused were arrested while they produced before a special court of Raipur, halting their release from prison.
The Supreme Court had granted bail to Chaurasiya, Sahu, Tiwari and other nine accused, citing long trial in the case in last week of February.
Earlier 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, 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.
The agency has so far 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.
