Chhattisgarh: ED raids IAS officer, Congress treasurer in money laundering probe

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted searches at the premises of an IAS officer, senior Congress politician and contractors in Raipur, Bilaspur and Korba districts in Chhattisgarh in connection with the money laundering case, officials familiar with the developemt said.

According to a Chhattisgarh senior police officer, premises linked to IAS officer Ranu Sahu, some other bureaucrats and Chhattisgarh Congress leader and PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) treasurer Ramgopal Agarwal, were being searched by ED.

Visuals showed central paramilitary personnel outside the residences of IAS officer Sahu and Agrawal in Raipur, and Korba Municipal Corporation Commissioner Prabhakar Pandey in Korba.

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There is no clarity about the case in which these searches are going on but it could be linked to the district mineral fund (DMF), said officials, adding some contractors of the public work department (PWD) working on DMF were also raided.

Officials said that the premises of Korba Municipal Corporation Commissioner Prabhakar Pandey and one other employee of Korba Municipal Corporation were also raided and the house of a chartered accountant and steel businessmen was also searched in Raipur.

“We are still not clear that ED has registered a fresh case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) or the search is going on in the previous coal levy case,” said officials mentioned above.

According to another state police officer, searches could be linked to an alleged rice scam but nothing is clear.

The ED has been probing an alleged coal levy and liquor scam in the state in which it has arrested some prominent bureaucrats, including IAS officers, apart from politicians and those linked to them.

On July 18, the Supreme Court asked the agency to “stay their hand in all manner” in the alleged Rs.2,000 crore liquor scam-linked money laundering case in Chhattisgarh.