[ad_1]
posted by: Ashi Sadana
Last updated: May 09, 2023, 21:53 GMT
Sahu was questioned by ED a few months back when she was taking over as Raigad district collector. (representative image / IANS)
The frozen property also belonged to IAS officer Ranu Sahu, a coal dealer and the main accused in the case – Suryakant Tiwari – apart from Congress Speaker RP Singh and local party leader Vinod Tiwari.
Ninety immovable assets, luxury vehicles, jewelry and cash worth over Rs 51 crore belonging to Chhattisgarh Congress MLAs Devender Yadav, Chandradev Prasad Rai and PCC Treasurer Ramgopal Agarwal among others have been attached in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal coal tax in the state, ED said on Tuesday.
The frozen property is also owned by IAS officer Ranu Sahu, coal trader and main accused in the case – Suryakant Tiwari – apart from Congress spokesperson RP Singh and local party leader Vinod Tiwari.
Sahu was questioned by ED a few months back when she was taking over as Raigad district collector.
The agency said in a statement that the property was temporarily attached under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Its total value is Rs 51.40 Crore.
The Federal Investigation Agency claimed that it had “proved direct evidence of the financial links of the aforementioned persons with Suryakant Tiwari”.
“The assets created were identified by layering proceeds of crime or similar assets for seizure actions under the PMLA,” the agency said.
The latest action comes days after the Emergency Department arrested Congress leader and Mayor of Raipur, Anwar Dibar, elder brother of Raipur Mayor Anwar Dhibar in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate case in the state.
Chief Minister Bhopesh Bagel on Monday called the executive management a “customer” of the BJP, calling the agency’s claim of uncovering an alleged liquor scam in the state false and baseless.
With assembly elections approaching in the state, a ‘disillusioned’ BJP has been trying to discredit the Congress government using ED, as he claims.
The agency had earlier attached assets of IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and powerful state service bureaucrat Saumya Chaurasia worth a total of Rs 170 crore in this case. The total value of the attachments is now Rs 221.5 crore.
The agency earlier said the investigation related to allegations of “a large-scale fraud in which an illegal tax of 25 rupees was extorted for every ton of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel comprising top bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.”
Nine persons, including Chaurasia, Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, have so far been arrested in the case by the ED. They are in judicial custody at present.
The money laundering case stems from a complaint of the Income Tax Department that was registered after raids by taxpayers in June 2022.
The agency called Suryakant Tiwari a ground level “master henchman” who spread his staff in different areas to extort money from coal transporters and industrialists, his team was actually coordinating with lower level government employees, coal transporters and user representatives. comp.
“As his staff were spread all over the state, they kept WhatsApp groups and excel sheets of every coal delivery order and sums extorted and shared them with Suryakant Tiwari, who in turn kept detailed handwritten notes of bribes received and used in the purchase of Panamanian lands, payment of bribes, payments of political expenses, etc. that “
“This kind of systematic extortion would not have been possible without the knowledge and active participation of the state apparatus,” said the ED.
The agency filed two charge sheets and claimed to have “proved proceeds of crime of Rs 540 crore in this extortion racket”.
Read all the latest India news and Karnataka elections 2023 update here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is republished from a syndicated news agency feed.)
[ad_2]
