Saumya Chaurasia taken into custody, ED claims, money used to buy ‘Benami assets’

Saumya Chaurasia, the deputy secretary to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was arrested and arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday in connection with a money laundering case involving the alleged extortion of an illegal levy from coal and mining transporters.

In accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Judge Ajay Singh Rajput of a special court session in Raipur granted ED to take custody for four days.

When requesting her custody, ED informed the court that Chaurasia, coal mafia lord Suryakant Tiwari, and other senior government officials had used the money obtained through illegal extortion to pay for ‘election-related expenditures by MLAs’ and to buy ‘Benami assets.’

The ED stated, ‘Investigation so far reveals that she bought properties in the name of her family members by infusing this illegally earned cash from coal levy extortion,’ while listing the specifics of the properties purchased by Chaurasia’s relatives.

According to the ED, the illegal levy pertained to ‘a massive scam in which the mafia involved senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians, and middlemen was extorting an illegal levy of 25 per tonne for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh.’

Suryakant Tiwari, according to the federal agency, amassed a 500 crore illegal coal levy over the course of the previous 16 months with the aid of state officials, and some of the ill-gotten gains were allegedly used for ‘election funding’ and official bribery. ED claimed that a 25 levy per tonne illegal surcharge was applied when transporting coal.

According to ED’s remand application, Chaurasia’s eyes and ears were being taken care of by kingpin Tiwari. She was using Tiwari as a ‘layer’ in the middle to receive input and give orders to district-level officers in order to protect herself. This, it claimed, enabled Tiwari to carry out his extortion.

‘Tiwari is a private contractor and it is clear that strong support of the state executives was essential to extort money from the coal users. Chaurasia, because of her position in the CM office, enjoys power and influence which is far higher than her administrative experience and rank,’ the remand application stated.