Coal Levy Scam: ED Conducts Fresh Raids at Congress leaders’ Residence, Office Premises

RAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted fresh searches at nearly a dozen locations in Chhattisgarh including those under the jurisdiction of Congress leaders in connection with the coal levy scam.

The raids come ahead of the three-day plenary session of the Congress from February 24-26 in the state capital Raipur.

Searches are being conducted at the premises of Ramgopal Agarwal, Treasurer, Chattisgarh Congress an insider said. ED is also conducting raids on Bhilai MLA Devendra Yadav, Girish Devangan, RP Singh, Vinod Tiwari, Sunny Agarwal, it added.

The Enforcement Directorate has strong evidence of Ramgopal Agarwal received Rs 52 crore from Suryakant Tiwari who is currently under judicial custody.

In the previous month, the federal agency had launched a search operations at multiple locations in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka, in connection to the coal levy scam. In CG, the mineral departments in Korba and Durg were searched.

The search relates to “a massive scam in which 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.

Nine persons, including state administrative service officer Chaurasia, Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari, Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and another coal businessman Sunil Agrawal have been arrested by so far.