Chhattisgarh coal levy case: 2 suspended IAS officers, 4 others released on bail

The six officers include two suspended IAS officers and a former deputy secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office

Raipur: Six accused, including two suspended IAS officers and a former deputy secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), were granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in the alleged Chhattisgarh coal levy case.

Suspended IAS officer Ranu Sahu. (File Photo)

They were released from Central Jail Raipur on Saturday.

Defense counsel Faizal Rizvi confirmed the release of IAS officers Sameer Vishnoi and Ranu Sahu, along with Saumya Chaurasia, former deputy secretary in the CMO during the previous Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.

Three others were also released on bail.

The Supreme Court granted interim bail to eight accused in the case. However, two of them—businessman Suryakant Tiwari and Nikhil Chandrakar—remain in jail due to other pending cases, Rizvi said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been investigating the alleged money laundering aspect of the case since 2022, arrested Vishnoi in October 2022 and Chaurasia in December the same year. Sahu was taken into custody in July 2023.

The accused have been granted interim bail in two separate cases—one filed by ED and another by the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The relief also extends to a case concerning alleged irregularities in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF), currently under investigation by the state’s Economic Offences Wing (EoW), in which Sahu and Chaurasia are named as accused.

On May 29, a Supreme Court bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta granted the bail with several conditions. The court directed that the accused—Ranu Sahu, Suryakant Tiwari, Sameer Vishnoi, and Saumya Chaurasia—must not stay in Chhattisgarh until further notice, except when required to appear before the investigating agency or the trial court.

“They are also directed to furnish the addresses of their stay outside Chhattisgarh to the jurisdictional police station within one week of their release,” the bench said.

According to investigative agencies, a cartel involving bureaucrats, businessmen, and politicians allegedly extorted an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne of coal transported in the state. This purported syndicate, led by individuals like Suryakant Tiwari and supported by senior government functionaries, is accused of manipulating policies related to mineral transportation to facilitate the scam.

Investigators claim that handwritten diaries reveal approximately ₹540 crore was collected through illegal levies between July 2020 and June 2022.