The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 51 immovable properties worth Rs 17.48 crore in the illegal coal levy extortion scam of Chhattisgarh.
The attached properties include eight benami immovable properties worth Rs 7.57 crore which are beneficially owned by Saumya Chaurasia, Deputy Secretary to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, and remaining 43 benami properties which are beneficially controlled by kingpin of the syndicate Suryakant Tiwari, the agency said in a statement.
In this case, the ED had earlier issued a Provisional Attachment Order on December 9, 2022 attaching properties worth Rs 152.31 crore belonging to Suryakant Tiwari, IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, Chhattisgarh Civil Service Officer Saumya Chaurasia, Sunil Agarwal and others.
The ED has attached assets to the tune of approximately Rs 170 crore till now, it said.
The ED has initiated a money laundering investigation based on the FIR lodged on the complaint of Income Tax Department.
The agency has arrested nine accused persons all of them are undergoing judicial custody.
“The ED investigation has established that proceeds of crime worth Rs 540 crore were acquired in this extortion racket. A systemic network of extortion was set up with the active connivance and participation of a large number of bureaucrats and higher powers. ED is investigating the entire gamut of the extortion racket,” it added.
