After conducting multiple city searches throughout the state earlier this week as part of a money laundering probe, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday reportedly detained Sameer Vishnoi and two other people.
They added that the federal agency detained businessmen Sunil Agrawal of the Indramani group and Laxmikant Tiwari, the uncle of “absconding” businessman Suryakant Tiwari, in the morning from the state capital Raipur.
The three people will appear before a local court after being detained under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the ED will ask for their continued detention. A 2009-class Indian Administrative Service officer named Mr. Vishnoi is the CEO of the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society at the moment. He and a few other people were questioned by the CBI on Wednesday at its office in Raipur.
The arrests followed a series of raids the agency conducted in Chhattisgarh on October 11 in connection with a money laundering investigation into an alleged illegal levy that was allegedly demanded from coal and mining transporters in the state by what is believed to be a network of government officials, businesspeople, and private entities.
Ranu Sahu, an IAS officer and the Raigarh district collector, was not home during the Tuesday night raids, so the agency also sealed her home.
It’s believed that Ms. Sahu told the organisation she was getting medical treatment and promised to cooperate with the investigation.
However, according to ED sources, the IAS officer from the 2010 batch has yet to show up at the agency’s Raipur headquarters “despite unambiguous instructions” to do so.
During the most recent raids, the agency also confiscated jewellery and cash worth Rs 4 crore. An Income Tax Department complaint and charge sheet regarding these alleged cases of tax extortion led to the money laundering case.
Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, lashed out at the federal government on Wednesday over the ED raids, saying that investigation agency shouldn’t be “misused” to gain political advantage or to malign the state’s leadership, legislators, and bureaucrats.
Raman Singh, a former state chief minister and prominent member of the BJP, claimed on Wednesday that Mr. Baghel is a “ATM of Sonia Gandhi” and that a “illegal fee” of Rs. 25 per tonne is being collected in Chhattisgarh for the transportation of coal.Mr. Baghel has asked Mr. Singh to retract the remarks.
