ED files complaint in Chhattisgarh recruitment scam
The Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Raipur Zonal Office has filed a complaint before the Special PMLA Court in Raipur, taking a major step in one of Chhattisgarh’s most closely watched corruption investigations. The complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, names Taman Singh Sonwani, former chairman of the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission; Chetan Borghariya, former Officer on Special Duty in then Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s Office; Utkarsh Chandrakar; and others as defendants.
The case deals directly with the question of public recruitment. It accuses a well-organised scheme of turning competitive examinations meant to select Deputy Collectors, Deputy Superintendents of Police, and other senior officers into a market where influence and money could be traded. The ED’s investigation stemmed from cases first filed by the State’s Economic Offences Wing and Anti-Corruption Bureau over large-scale irregularities in the 2020 and 2021 State Service Examinations.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) eventually took over the underlying offence and prepared the charge sheets. The agency said Utkarsh Chandrakar and his associates obtained more than Rs 3 crore in illegal gratification from candidates who took the 2021 examination. The scheme was simple and profitable: it involved releasing the question papers in advance, along with the promise of selection through supposed access to the then Chief Minister’s Office.
Candidates were initially gathered at the Siddhi Vinayak Marriage Palace in Raipur before the preliminary exam, where the leaked paper was handed out. They were then accommodated at the Barnawapara Sanctuary Resort, where coaching for the mains exam went on using the leaked material. Sonwani, who was in charge of the Commission at that time, is alleged to have used his position to bias the process in favour of relatives and other favoured candidates.
Investigators say the recruitment rules were also changed in 2021 by omitting the word “nephew” from the definition of family, allowing selections that would previously have been forbidden. The ED adds that the funds obtained from crime were moved both in cash and through a series of banking channels.
The agency had previously seized movable and immovable property valued at Rs 47 lakh belonging to Sonwani, Chandrakar and others as criminal proceeds. The arrests took place in turn: Sonwani on July 25, 2026, Utkarsh Chandrakar on September 1 and Borghariya on September 11, all under Section 19 of the PMLA. In their investigation, the investigators referred to financial trails that included a number of cash deposits and transactions linking Borghariya’s accounts to the alleged network.
The complaint, which extends over dozens of pages and includes thousands of supporting documents, is the ED’s first official filing in the area of money laundering.
The submission is a long-overdue move toward accountability for the thousands of genuine aspirants who have prepared for years, only to see selections supposedly determined by money and personal connections. The courts will decide whether the system meant to reward merit can still win back the public’s trust.
