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Coal levy case: The ED raids places in Chhattisgarh that are linked to Congress leaders

Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided places in Raipur that were linked to eight Congress leaders and office bearers in an alleged coal levy scam in Chhattisgarh money laundering case.

This news comes just a few days before the plenary session, which is set to take place from February 24 to 26. More than 10,000 Congress officials and top leaders are expected to attend.

A top police official said that the ED searches are taking place in the state capital, Raipur, and in the district of Durg.

“ED has searched the homes of some senior leaders, spokespeople, and a lawmaker, and more information is on the way,” said a senior police official.

People who know about the situation say that Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has called for a meeting of senior Congress leaders to take place at 10am at his official residence.

Also see: ED seizes new benami assets of Saumya Chaurasia and others in the Coal Levy Scam

Baghel will also talk to the press at 11 a.m.

Earlier, the ED’s chargesheet said that a group of senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians, and middlemen were demanding an illegal fee of 25 per tonne for every tonne of coal that was moved in the state.

After launching raids in multiple cities in the state on October 11, the ED first arrested IAS officer Vishnoi, businessman Sunil Agrawal, who owns the Indermani group, and Laxmikant Tiwari, who is the uncle of “absconding” businessman and kingpin Suryakant Tiwari.

Criminal parts of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act were used to arrest the three (PMLA).

Later, ED also arrested Tiwari, who was brought to court after being questioned.

In documents sent to the court, the ED called it a “mega scam.” It said that the “genesis of the scam of making illegal money through transportation of coal began on July 15, 2020, when the Geology and Mining Department issued a notification signed by Vishnoi in his role as director of the Geology and Mining Department.”

In a statement, the ED said that coal transportation in Chhattisgarh was part of a “massive scam” and that a “cartel” of politicians, officers, and others was running a “parallel system of extorting illegal levy” that was bringing in about 2–3 crore per day.

The investigation agency says that “the main kingpin of this scam is Suryakant Tiwari and his associates,” who “entered into a criminal conspiracy to run a parallel system of extorting illegal levy on coal and moving illegal and unaccounted cash.”

On December 2, the ED arrested Chhattisgarh chief minister’s deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia in the case. They said that Chaurasia’s WhatsApp chats, which were found by the income tax department, showed that she was sharing all of the government’s confidential information with kingpin Tiwari, who was not even working in her office.

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