Coal Levy Scam: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday morning started searches at 14 places in Chhattisgarh in connection with the coal levy scam. Some of the premises being raided are linked to Congress MLAs and office bearers.
According to sources, all the raided sites belong to MLAs and office bearers close to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. According to the information, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has called a student press meet at his residence at 11 am.
The searches included the residential and office premises of various Congress leaders namely Ram Gopal Agarwal, Girish Dewangan, RP Singh, Vinod Tiwari ad Sunny Agarwal, sources said.
Chhattisgarh | Enforcement Directorate conducts searches at more than a dozen locations in the state in a mining case. The places being searched include residential & office premises of various Congress leaders.
Visuals from the residence of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav in Raipur pic.twitter.com/mgOTiLFQJL
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2023
What is Chhattisgarh coal scam
ED sources said, an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne for each tonne of coal transported in the state was being made by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, traders, politicians and middlemen. They had collected an average of Rs 500 crore in 2021.
The Enforcement Directorate today conducted searches at more than a dozen locations in Chhattishgarh in a mining case. The places searched include residential and office premises of various Congress leaders. pic.twitter.com/ywnDB5n0aS
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2023
In October 2022, the ED had recovered Rs 4 crore in cash, valuables worth crores and important documents by raiding 40 locations linked to top bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen of Chhattisgarh.
So far, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary Soumya Chaurasia, Vishnoi, coal baron and alleged "mastermind of the scam" Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and another coal baron Sunil Agarwal have been arrested in this case.
