VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Jan. 13: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out raids at Adityapur-based premises of business brothers Sanoj Sinha and Manoj Sinha in Jamshedpur of Jharkhand in connection with coal extortion case in which the ED recently arrested Chhattisgarh cadre IAS Soumya Chaurasia.
Sanoj Sinha and his brother Manoj Sinha are involved in the hotel industry and many other business activities like petrol pumps. They are considered close to Soumya Chaurasia. She was the deputy secretary in office of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. She was recently arrested by the ED.
Besides Jharkhand, the federal anti-money laundering agency carried out raids in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka also.
In Jamshedpur, the ED officials raided the Madhuban Hotel, located on Adityapur-Kandra main road. They also own another hotel named Novanta Hotel. Sinha brothers are also the owners of petrol pumps.
The ED is investigating a big-ticket scam involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen. The ED said that a coal extortion syndicate used to illegally extort Rs 25 per tonne from transporters and many of them raised assets with proceeds of crime in the name of their relatives. So far, the ED has attached assets to the tune of Rs 150 crore.
Explaining the enormity of crime, the ED has stated that in the last two years Rs. 540 crore has been ‘extorted’. The ED started a probe in October last year against the CEO of Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society and 2009 batch IAS Sameer Vishnoi. Other than Soumya, the ED arrested Sameer Vishnoi, alleged kingpin Suryakant Tiwari and two businessmen.
