The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Ranu Sahu in Chhattisgarh in a money laundering case linked to an alleged multi-million coal levy scam, a government lawyer said.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court granted three-day custodial remand of Sahu to the ED after she was produced before the court.
The ED sought 14-day custody, but the court granted custody to the agency till July 25, Saurabh Pandey, the ED’s lawyer told media persons outside the court complex.
Investigation into the case revealed the involvement of Sahu, who had served as Raigarh and Korba collectors, in the money laundering offence. Proceeds of the crime as immovable property to the tune of Rs 5.52 crore were found in her possession, Pandey claimed.
Meanwhile, the accused Sahu's counsel Faizal Rizvi claimed she was arrested on completely fictional grounds.
“She had cooperated with the central agency in the alleged coal levy case and appeared before it whenever she was summoned between October last year and January this year”,Rizvi added.
The properties that have been attached under the PMLA linked to Sahu belong to her parents.
These properties dated back prior to 2019, while the ED states proceeds of crime are from 2020, he added.
The ED conducted raids at her residence in Raipur on Friday. Her premises were raided earlier as well and her assets were attached by the ED as part of its probe into the alleged coal levy case.
Sahu, a Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer of the 2010 batch, is currently posted as the director of the state agriculture department. Prior to this posting, she had served as collector of the coal-rich Korba and Raigarh districts. She is the second IAS officer in the state who has been arrested in the case as Sameer Vishnoi, an IAS officer of the 2009 batch, was arrested last year.
The ED had said in its statement that a massive scam was taking place in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh, under which an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.
The ED has so far arrested 10 persons, including prominent bureaucrats, politicians and those linked to them, in the case.