Disproportionate assets cases: Chhattisgarh ACB/EOW raids 24 places in Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Karnataka

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Anti Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing on Friday conducted raids at 24 locations in four states in connection with disproportionate assets cases lodged against Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Ranu Sahu and Sameer Vishnoi and state service officer Saumya Chaurasia, officials said.

The ACB/EOW also arrested Manish Upadhyay, a key accused in the alleged coal levy case, from Durg district during the day, they said.

Sahu, Vishnoi and Chaurasia are in jail in connection with the alleged coal levy scam unearthed during the previous Congress government in the state.

"The raids were conducted in 20 places in Chhattisgarh, in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, two places in Rajasthan and Karnataka capital Bengaluru. The 20 places raided in Chhattisgarh comprise one each in Korba and Gariaband, two in Raigarh, three in Mahasamund, five places in Raipur and eight in Durg," an official said.

"ACB/EOW seized various documents related to immovable properties. These have revealed a huge amount of benami properties. Several documents related to vehicles and electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones and pen drives containing information about the properties were also recovered. These are being investigated," he added.

On July 2, the state's anti-graft agency had lodged three fresh FIRs against Sahu, Vishnoi and Chaurasia under Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has been probing the money laundering angle in the alleged coal levy scam, had arrested Sahu in July last year. Chaurasia, then deputy secretary at chief minister's office, was held in December 2022, while Vishnoi was arrested in October 2022. They are in jail since then.

The three are also among 35 persons named in the FIR lodged by the state's Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB)/ EOW in January this year under Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code in connection with the coal levy case. This case was lodged based on a report submitted by the ED.

The FIR mentioned that an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.