GG News Bureau
Raipur, 11th July. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Chhattisgarh has registered a case against Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Ranu Sahu and Samir Vishnoi, along with State Civil Service officer Soumya Chaurasia, on allegations of corruption. Officials disclosed this information on Monday.
All three officers, who served during the previous Congress government in the state, are currently in jail in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. An EOW official stated that the agency filed three FIRs on July 2 against Vishnoi, Sahu, and Chaurasia for amassing wealth disproportionate to their income. They have been charged under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the primary investigation, Sahu, from the 2010 IAS batch, allegedly invested approximately ₹3.94 crore in immovable properties under her and her relatives’ names between 2015 and 2022. It was stated in the FIR that Sahu received around ₹92 lakh in salary from April 2011 to October 2022, but allegedly acquired properties illicitly.
Similarly, Vishnoi, from the 2009 IAS batch, allegedly earned about ₹93 lakh as salary between September 2010 and September 2022, but reportedly acquired movable/immovable properties worth over ₹5.12 crore during this period.
Likewise, Chaurasia, a State Administrative Service officer from the 2008 batch, has been accused of acquiring around 29 immovable properties valued at approximately ₹9.22 crore. Chaurasia received around ₹85.50 lakh as salary and other allowances until October 2022, as mentioned in the FIR.
The investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the coal levy scam, which began in January this year under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code provisions, is related to illegal collection of ₹25 per ton of coal by a syndicate involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, political leaders, and mining officials in Chhattisgarh. The ED initiated searches and arrested 11 individuals, seizing properties worth approximately ₹222 crore.
The FIR states that private individuals like Suryakant Tiwari and syndicate members like Soumya Chaurasia and Samir Vishnoi successfully orchestrated policy changes with the support of some political officials in Chhattisgarh. They allegedly initiated forced collection networks to recover ₹25 per ton of coal mined in Chhattisgarh from July 2020 to June 2022.
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