Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 28: The Chhattisgarh illegal coal levy scam led to the arrest of four more suspects by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the PMLA.
The accused were brought in front of the PMLA Special Court in Raipur. All four of the accused were given three days of ED custody through January 30 by the judge.
ED had previously filed a Prosecution Complaint under PMLA and issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) to attach profits of crime totaling Rs 152.5 crore. Recently, searches on particular inputs were carried out in Delhi, Pune, and Chhattisgarh.
ED detained Saumya Chaurasia, Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office, who was knowingly involved in money laundering, as well as Deepesh Taunk, a close friend of one of the primary defendants in the case.
Sandeep Kumar Nayak of Surajpur and Shiv Shankar Nag of Korba, mining officers who knowingly and voluntarily helped the Suryakant Tiwari syndicate perpetrate extortion and acquire the profits of crime, were also detained by the central agency, according to the ED.
Rajesh Chaudhary was also detained by ED. He was a con artist who defrauded individuals while offering to act as a middleman to resolve disputes. An investigation by the ED has revealed that Sunil Agarwal’s immediate family members made valiant attempts to gain his release shortly after his detention by the ED on October 12, 2022. Sunil Agarwal is an accused who was detained by the ED and is currently in judicial custody. According to the ED statement, this self-described ‘liaisoner’ then contacted Sunil Agarwal’s family.
After receiving specific intelligence inputs, ED started an operation on its own, and Rajesh Chaudhary was found and detained in accordance with PMLA since it had been established by the inquiry that Rajesh Agarwal had obtained some of the proceeds of the crime.
His creation of false ED officer ID cards and his use of the ED employee claim in various KYC forms submitted to banks were also revealed during his interrogation.
