The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted fresh searches at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh, including at the premises of an IAS officer, and other places in Karnataka and Jharkhand in connection with its ongoing money laundering probe into an alleged coal levy scam in the State.
The searches were conducted in Raipur, Korba and Durg in Chhattisgarh besides Ranchi in Jharkhand and Bengaluru (Karnataka). The ED search teams were provided security cover of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel during the operation, officials said.
Premises linked to IAS officer and Secretary of water resources department, tourism and culture, Anbalagan P were also covered.
The 2004-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has earlier served as the Secretary of mineral resources department in the incumbent Congress government.
His wife Alarmelmangai D is also an IAS officer (2004 batch) and is posted as Secretary of Urban Administration and Development Department and Finance Department. She has earlier served as the Director, geology and mining, in the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel government.
Some politicians and businesses linked to them and some coal traders are also being searched, officials said.
In October, the agency had launched a probe in this case after it searched another IAS officer of the State, Sameer Vishnoi, and some businessmen.
The investigation relates to "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", the agency has alleged.