Chhattisgarh money laundering case: ED says Rs 2-3 crore was extorted every day

The ED said the state's Mineral Department has abolished the online system of mineral transportation and made it offline which has led to extortion of illegal levy of more than 500 crores in the last one and a half years.

Raipur: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed to have exposed a massive racket linked to illegal levy extorted from coal and mining transporters through surreptitious change in the online system of transportation to offline mode by a nexus of officials and businessmen in Chhattisgarh, sources said. The federal agency on Thursday arrested IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, businessman Sunil Agrawal and Laxmikant Tiwari, uncle of absconding coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari, after it launched multi-city raids in the state on October 11 as part of a money laundering investigation.

ED officials while addressing a presser after the arrests in Raipur said that the state's Mineral Department has abolished the online system of mineral transportation and made it offline which enabled the accused to levy arbitrary charges and led to extortion of illegal levy of more than Rs 500 crores in the last one and a half years. ED's investigation has revealed that the then Director, Geology and Mining Department issued a notification on July 15, 2020 doing away with the online process of e-permit for transportation of coal from mines to users and issuing a manual NOC.

No SOP or procedure was circulated in this regard, the ED said. The order for change in the online system was issued by the then Mineral Director, Sameer Vishnoi, it added. The ED said that the main kingpin of this scam Suryakant Tiwari and his associates hatched a criminal conspiracy to run a parallel system of extortion of illegal levy on coal.

The black money from this was being used to invest in "benami" properties, bribe officials to influence senior officials and be used by or on behalf of politically influential people. ED investigation revealed that from July 15 2020, more than 30,000 NOCs have been issued without any SOP. There was no documentation system in the mining departments with the NOCs issued with the consent of the Collector / DMO, it said.

The ED also said that the cartel with the help of senior officials led by Suryakant Tiwari created a network of extortion, by which every buyer/transporter of coal was first required to obtain NOC from the DM's office. The ED estimates that around Rs 2-3 crore was extorted from the coal and mining transporters every day.

The ED has already initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR on behalf of the Income Tax Department against the illegal extortion and conspiracy to destroy evidence. The ED has seized unaccounted cash, gold jewellery, bullion and other valuables worth about crores. The ED has also seized Rs 47 lakh cash, 4 kg gold and diamonds from the house of IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi. Rs 1.5 crore cash was recovered from Laxmikant Tiwari.

Sunil Aggarwal is said to have purchased many properties along with Suryakant Tiwari. The court has remanded the accused to the ED custody till October 21.