ED sent to Chhattisgarh to destabilise government, raids politically motivated: CM Baghel

The ED has been investigating an alleged coal levy money laundering case and has raided premises linked to government officials, businessmen and Congress leaders

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday dubbed the ED's raids in the state as "politically motivated" and alleged that since the BJP could not even make any attempt to topple his government, efforts were now on to destabilise it through the misuse of the central agency.

He also said that despite carrying out raids at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh in the last one month, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has so far not disclosed anything about what it recovered through its action. He was talking to reporters here at the helipad in Police Lines.

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When asked about recent ED raids on liquor businessmen and others, Baghel replied, "The maximum number of raids in the country were conducted in Chhattisgarh in the last one month. Since the Congress' plenary session was held in Raipur, more than 50 locations were searched by the central agency. But there is no information about the amount recovered during these actions. The agency did not disclose how much (money) it recovered from businessmen or industrialists (covered in the raids)."

"Our party workers Girish Dewangan, Sunny Sushil Agrwal, Vinod Tiwari and Ramgopal Agrawal were raided, but what was recovered from them is not being disclosed. It means that it is a politically-motivated raid. It is an attempt to destabilise. The central agency is being misused...," he said.

"ED officials from different states of the country have been deployed here...Had our government been in a slight majority, they would have tried to poach our MLAs. But we have got a massive majority of 71 seats (in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly), that's why they (Bharatiya Janata Party) failed to make such an attempt. But now the ED is being misused...," he added.

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The ED has been investigating an alleged coal levy money laundering case in Chhattisgarh and raided premises linked to several state government officials, businessmen, ruling Congress leaders in the last six months.

The investigation relates to "a massive scam in which an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen, the agency has said.

Nine persons, including a Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and state administrative service officer Saumya Chaurasia, have been arrested by the agency so far in the case since October last year. The ED on March 29 had carried out searches against Congress leader and Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, his brother Anwar Dhebar, liquor businessman Baldev Singh Bhatia alias Pappu Bhatia and others.