CM Bhupesh Baghel’s Deputy Secretary’s aide held in coal scam

New Delhi, January 28

A “close confidant” of bureaucrat Saumya Chaurasia, two mining officers, and an alleged conman who impersonated as an ED officer are among the four people arrested by the ED in the coal levy ‘scam’ of Chhattisgarh, an official statement said Saturday.

The ED arrested the four under the anti-money laundering law and a special PMLA court in Raipur and sent them to the agency’s custody till January 30, it said.

The agency had conducted fresh raids in the case on January 13 in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and Pune which led to these four arrests. Among those arrested is Deepesh Taunk, who, the ED said, is a “close confidant” of Saumya Chaurasia, a Deputy Secretary in the office of Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, and a key accused. The agency claimed Taunk was “knowingly involved in laundering.” Chaurasia was arrested last year after the ED raided multiple people in October, 2022 and arrested Sameer Vishnoi, an IAS officer of the state, 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. Two mining officers — Sandeep Kumar Nayak and Shiv Shankar Nag — are also among those arrested. The fourth to be arrested is Rajesh Chaudhary, allegedly a conman, who the ED said was “cheating people by claiming to work as a middleman to settle cases.”