The Supreme Court has extended the interim bail granted to former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary, Saumya Chaurasia, who is an accused in a case linked to the alleged coal-levy scam.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan posted the hearing on November 27.

"Interim order to continue meanwhile," the bench said in its October 25 order.

The top court had on September 25 granted interim bail to Chaurasia while noting she had been in custody for over a year and nine months, and charges hadn't been framed against her before the trial could begin.

While directing the Chhattisgarh government not to reinstate Chaurasia in service till further orders, the top court ordered her to appear before the trial court whenever required and not influence any witnesses.

Chaurasia has challenged an August 28 high court order refusing her bail.

On December 14, 2023, the top court had dismissed Chaurasia's bail plea, saying she was prima facie involved in money laundering.

It had said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had collected sufficient evidence to conclude Chaurasia was actively involved in the offence of money laundering defined in Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The federal probe agency had, in 2022, alleged a "grand conspiracy" in the natural resources-rich state to perpetrate a "coal-levy scam", which saw an "extortion" of about Rs 540 crore over the previous two years.

The money-laundering case stems from a complaint lodged by the income-tax department.

The ED investigation relates to "a massive scam in which 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", alleged the ED.