ED Conducts Fresh Searches at Multiple Locations in Chhattisgarh Coal Levy Case

GG News Bureau

Raipur, 28th March. The Enforcement Directorate conducted new searches in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday as part of its ongoing money laundering investigation into an illegal coal levy case.

According to the agency, the investigation is about “a massive scam in which an illegal levy of 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians, and middlemen.”

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), at least 540 crore has been “extorted” in the last two years.

Premises related to those allegedly linked to Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal and arrested coal businessman Sunil Agarwal, besides a few others, in state capital Raipur and in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh were searched, the official sources said.

The ED has arrested nine people in the case so far, including state administrative service officer Saumya Chaurasia, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari, and Chhattisgarh-cadre Indian Administrative Service officer Sameer Vishnoi.