Coal levy scam: ED attaches assets worth ₹152 cr of Saumya Chaurasia, others

The ED’s charge sheet mentioned that an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth ₹152.31 crore belonging to the accused persons in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal levy scam in Chhattisgarh, officials said.

According to the ED, an amount of at least ₹540 crore was extorted in the last two years in the alleged scam (Representative Photo)

According to the ED, an amount of at least ₹540 crore was extorted in the last two years in the alleged scam.

ED claimed that the properties of coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, Saumya Chaurasia, deputy secretary of state chief minister Bhupesh Baghel (21 properties), IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi IAS (5 properties), Sunil Agarwal & others include cash, jewellery, flats, coal washeries and plots of land.

“The ED conducted searches at more than 75 locations including the mining departments at collector offices at Korba and Raigad and collected incriminating evidence. It has also recorded statements of around 100 individuals in regard to the scam,” the investigation agency said.

On Friday, ED filed a charge sheet against four people, including an IAS officer in a Raipur court in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal levy scam.

The ED’s charge sheet mentioned that an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.

The agency claims that the alleged scam, involving bureaucrats, officers and top government officials, is part of a greater conspiracy.

According to the ED, the “massive scam” was taking place in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh, under which a cartel of politicians, officers and others were allegedly running a “parallel system of extorting illegal levy”, generating about ₹2-3 crore daily.

ED claimed that as part of a grand conspiracy, policy changes were made in the mining and distribution of coal including the modification of the existing efficient online system of issuance of transport permits, on the orders of the government in July 2020 to introduce a manual layer where coal users were forced to apply for the no-objection certificate (NOC) with state mining officers.

“Since Tiwari’s employees were spread across the state, they maintained WhatsApp groups, excel sheets of each coal delivery order and extorted amounts, and shared the data with Suryakant Tiwari, who in turn maintained detailed handwritten diaries of the incoming bribe amounts and their utilization for purchase of Benami lands, payment of bribes, payments for political expenditure etc,” the ED stated in a press release issued on Saturday.

“The fact that it ran uninterrupted without a single FIR and collected around ₹500 crore in two years, clearly indicates that all the accused persons were acting in a concerted manner at the instructions of someone at the highest level, having command and control over the state machinery,” claimed the ED statement.

During their initial investigation, after raids in multiple cities in the state on October 11 this year, the ED had arrested IAS officer Vishnoi, coal businessman Sunil Agarawal, who owns Indermani group and Laxmikant Tiwari, uncle of absconding businessman and coal mafia kingpin Suryakant Tiwari. The three have been arrested under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Later, Suryakant Tiwari was also arrested by ED and was present before the court after questioning.

The ED in its documents submitted to the court termed it as a “mega scam”, claiming the “genesis of the scam of generation of illegal money through transportation of coal was started once the geology and mining department issued a notification on July 15, 2020, signed by Vishnoi as its director.”

Last Friday, the ED arrested Saumya Chaurasia in connection with the case and alleged that Chaurasia’s WhatsApp chats retrieved by the Income Tax department revealed that she was sharing all the government’s confidential information with Suryakant Tiwari, who was not even attached to her office for any official work.

On Tuesday, a Raipur court, based on the evidence produced by the ED, remanded Chaurasia, in ED custody for four more days. The court also extended the judicial custody of IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari and two others who were arrested earlier and ordered that the five be produced on December 10.

However, Chaurasia’s lawyer Faizal Rizvi, insisted that central agencies raided the official’s premises earlier and found nothing but still levelled baseless allegations to humiliate the official.