ED attaches properties worth RS 152 crore in Chattisgarh coal lavy scam case

The Central agency further stated that it issued a provisional order to attach some movable and 91 immovable properties on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

New Delhi: Raipur (Chattisgarh):The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 152.31 crore belonging to Chhattisgarh government bureaucrats Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia and IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi in relation to the alleged coal lavy scam money laundering case, the ED said in a statement on Saturday.

The Central agency further stated that it issued a provisional order to attach some movable and 91 immovable properties on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to ED, the frozen assets include 65 properties belonging to the main accused coal trade Suryakant Tiwari, 21 to Chaurasia, an influential bureaucrat posted at Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's office and five assets of 2009-batch IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi apart from that of another coal businessman of Chhattisgarh, Sunil Agarwal and some others.

"The properties include cash, jewellery, flats, coal washeries and plots of land located in Chhattisgarh," the ED said adding that apart from another businessman Laxmikant Tiwari (uncle of Suryakant Tiwari), it has arrested all four accused.

Earlier the Central agency said that its investigation related to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen."

It further alleged that a "grand conspiracy" was hatched in the natural resources-rich state to perpetrate a coal levy 'scam' in which Rs 540 crore has been "extorted" over the last two years.