Gariaband (Chhattisgarh): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided Raigarh Collector Ranu Sahu's house in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband in a money laundering case. A team of 12 members reached Panduka area in the district while another one raided the house of the officer's relative to investigate the sale of a piece of land.
Tuesday's raids are part of ED's large-scale operation that began on October 11 at the houses of big coal traders who along with several officers are allegedly involved in a major coal scam. From October 11, a team of 40 Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers in Chhattisgarh raided 18 places of three IAS officers, former MLAs and liquor, and coal traders.
Cash and jewellery worth Rs 4 crore have been seized from all these locations so far. Along with the investment, many documents related to mining licenses have also been found here. So far, the ED has gathered important evidence by raiding more than 40 locations. Apart from Raipur, ED started the investigation by forming different teams in Korba, Raigad, and Mahasamund.
After the action in Chhattisgarh, the ED revealed that the Mineral Department of Chhattisgarh has abolished the online system to earn profit through mineral transportation. Illegal recovery was made at the rate of Rs 25 per tonne for coal transport through a manual system. Due to this Rs 2 to 3 crore were recovered every day. In one and a half years, an illegal recovery of about Rs 500 crore has been made from coal transport.
Also read: Raigarh Collector Ranu assures to cooperate with ED probe in Chhattisgarh money laundering case
Ranu Sahu was the collector of Korba, the district that lone received an average annual revenue of Rs 300 crore from the Mineral Trust Fund. It is reported that along with the Tribal Department and Mineral Department, the present Korba Collector Sanjeev Jha has also been questioned by the ED team.
According to sources, 47 lakh cash, 4 kg gold and diamonds have been found in IAS Sameer Vishnoi's house. Apart from this, Laxmikant Tiwari has been arrested in the case of hiding Rs 1.5 crore. The same Sunil Aggarwal has bought many industries along with Suryakant Tiwari. The court has handed over all to the ED on remand till October 21.
