ED Takes Possession of Assets in Chhattisgarh Coal Levy Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken possession of assets worth over Rs. 152 crore as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged illegal coal levy case in Chhattisgarh. The agency has issued eviction orders for 91 properties, including movable and immovable assets belonging to former Chhattisgarh government bureaucrat Saumya Chaurasia, IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, and others. The attached assets, including flats, jewellery, coal washeries and plots, are ‘beneficially owned’ by Chaurasia, Vishnoi, Suryakant Tiwari, and another coal trader Sunil Agarwal. The ED investigation relates to allegations of a massive scam in which an 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. Nine people suspected of involvement in the case, including Chaurasia, Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari, and Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, have been arrested by ED.