Chhattisgarh govt withdraws plea from SC against ED action in money laundering case

Chhattisgarh standing counsel, Sumeer Sodhi, submitted before a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti that he has instructions to withdraw the plea. The bench allowed the counsel to withdraw the petition and recorded his submission.

New Delhi:The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it is withdrawing its plea challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s action against government officials in a money laundering case.

Chhattisgarh standing counsel, Sumeer Sodhi, submitted before a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti that he has instructions to withdraw the plea. The bench allowed the counsel to withdraw the petition and recorded his submission.

The money laundering case originated from an FIR registered on a complaint by the Income Tax department in connection with the allegations of illegal collection of levies on coal as well as attempts to influence public servants through corrupt means in the state.

The ED claimed a “massive scam” took place between 2019 and 2021 in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh. The ED also claimed that a cartel of politicians, officers, and others were allegedly running a parallel system of extorting illegal levies.

The state government, in its plea, had contended that the ED, on the basis of the FIR lodged in Bengaluru, registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in Raipur in September 2022 and started an investigation against state government officials.

The state government claimed the ED’s probe resulted in indiscriminate surveys and raids at various departments and offices of the state government and the arrest of state officials.

The petition sought a direction from the apex court to declare the ED’s action illegal, without jurisdiction, and unconstitutional.