On Monday morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided several places in Raipur district and Mahasamund district, connecting the Bharatmala Project compensation scam in Chhattisgarh. It was done at the residence of Harmeet Khanuja, his associates and various government officials who cared about the action.
As it is stated in the official sources, raids were held at approximately nine locations and seven separate ED teams initiated search operations at the same time in the early hours. The ED officials are now going through crucial papers and digital equipment at the locations to track financial abnormalities associated with the so-called scam.
Bharatmala Pariyojana is the project of the construction of a road corridor of 950 kilometres from Raipur to Visakhapatnam. The project comprises a four-lane highway between Raipur and Visakhapatnam and a six-lane highway between Durg and Arang. To carry out the project, large parcels of agrolands were purchased by farmers, who were to be paid as such. Nonetheless, a number of the affected farmers have not been compensated for the owed compensation, prompting corruption claims.
It was brought up on the second day of the Chhattisgarh Assembly Budget Session 2025 by the Leader of the Opposition, Charandas Mahant, after which the government voted to start a thorough investigation.
It has been found that, as part of the Bharatmala corridor project, SDM Nirbhay Sahu and other officials of the revenue department were complicit in allowing land mafias to be compensated at values many times more than the real value, costing the state exchequer almost 600 crores. In March, the then SDM Nirbhay Kumar Sahu, two tehsildars and three patwaris were suspended after the scam was unearthed. When Sahu went on suspension, he was the Municipal Commissioner of Jagdalpur.
The state government has passed on the investigation to the Economic Offences Wing (EDW), which has registered cases against the accused and is in the process of investigating further.
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