India News | Chhattisgarh Bureaucrat's ED Custody Extended by Four Days in Alleged Coal Levy Scam

Raipur, Dec 10 (PTI) A special court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur on Saturday extended the Enforcement Directorate custody of Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary posted in the office of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, for four days in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal levy scam in the state.

Also Read | Gay Marriage ‘Inevitable’ and Soon It’ll Be Law, Says US President Joe Biden.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ajay Singh Rajput extended the ED remand of Chaurasia after she was produced before the court on expiry of her current custody, said her lawyer Faizal Rizvi.

Also Read | Sanjay Singh Accuses BJP of Threatening and Luring Delhi AAP Councillors.

Chaurasia will be produced in the court again on December 14, he added.

Chaurasia was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on December 2.

As per the ED, a cartel of senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen were involved in illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne of coal being transported in the state.

The ED carried out raids across the state on October 11 and had arrested IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and businessman Sunil Agrawal.

The money laundering investigation was launched after the ED took cognisance of an Income Tax department complaint.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)