Raipur court issues notices to nine people including two Cong MLAs in coal levy scam

The court issued notices to two Congress MLAs and seven others in regard to an alleged coal levy scam and asked them to appear before it on October 25. Two others who were named in ED's second chargesheet have already been arrested.

Raipur: A special court in Raipur has issued notices to nine people including two Congress MLAs in a money laundering case in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. The nine alleged accused have been asked to appear before the special court on October 25.

Apart from Congress MLAs Devendra Yadav and Chandradev Prasad Rai, notices were issued to two Congress leaders RP Singh and Vinod Tiwari. A total of 11 people were named in the second supplementary chargesheet that was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the court of District and Sessions Judge Ajay Singh Rajput in this case last month.

"Among the 11 persons named in the second chargesheet included IAS Ranu Sahu and Nikhil Chandrakar, who have already been arrested in this case. Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that have been imposed in this case are cognizable and non-bailable. The nine accused who have not been arrested yet will be required to obtain anticipatory bail. If these people do not appear during the hearing, the court can issue bailable or non-bailable warrants against them," Saurabh Pandey, special public prosecutor said.

Under the alleged Chhattisgarh coal levy scam, 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. In its chargesheet, ED alleged of a nexus between Sahu, who served as Korba district collector and coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari in facilitating illegal levy amounts from coal transporters and District Mineral Fund (DMF) contracts.

ED further alleged that Bhilai Nagar MLA Devendra Yadav received Rs 3 crore that was generated by the coal cartel for the Khairagarh assembly by-election that was held in April 2022. On the other hand, Bilaigarh MLA Chandradev Prasad Rai was allegedly provided Rs 46 lakh for election funding, political expenses and personal gifts while Congress leaders Vinod Tiwari and RP Singh received around Rs 1.87 crore and Rs 2.01 crore respectively for political and personal expenses.

The first chargesheet in the alleged Chhattisgarh coal levy scam was filed on December 9, 2022 wherein IAS Sameer Vishnoi, businessman Sunil Aggarwal, coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari and his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari, all arrested were named as accused.