The Coal Cartel of Suryakant Tiwari and Ms. Saumya Chaurasia, which was extorting an illegal levy on the movement of coal, iron pellets, and other goods in the State of Chhattisgarh, was the target of a money laundering investigation by the Enforcement Directorate.
Directorate of Enforcement has conducted many searches, detained 9 accused individuals (all are in judicial custody), and filed two prosecution before the special Special Court (PMLA) complaints against Suryakant Tiwari, Saumya Chaurasia, Sameer Vishnoi IAS, and other individuals. Also the court has taken the cognizance of the ED’s complaints.
According to the inquiry, this extortion scheme generated Rs. 540 crore in criminal earnings that were used for political donations, the formation of benami properties, and official bribery. In this case, the ED has attached property estimated to be worth more than Rs 220 crore.
Last month the Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached 90 immovable properties, luxurious vehicles, jewellery & cash worth Rs 51.40 Crore belongs to Ms Ranu Sahu IAS, Suryakant Tiwari, Devender Yadav, MLA, Chandradev Prasad Rai, MLA, R P Singh, Vinod Tiwari and Ram Gopal Agarwal in the illegal Coal levy extortion scam in the State of Chhattisgarh.
Read More: Chhattisgarh Illegal Coal Levy Scam: ED Attaches Properties of IAS Ranu Sahu, Two MLAs and Others
Recently, the ED sources reported that the officials searched the offices in Indira Bhawan in Nava Raipur including the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bhavan. The ED called it a “mega scam” in documents submitted to the court, and it asserted that 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 the director of geology and mining department.”
Read More: ED raids Chhattisgarh Government Offices on Coal Levy Scam
