Coal levy 'scam': ED attaches fresh benami assets of Chhattisgarh CM's deputy secy, coal trader

The ED on Monday said it has attached benami assets worth Rs 17.48 crore of arrested accused Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary in the Chhattisgarh chief minister’s office, and coal trader Suryakant Tiwari in the coal levy ”scam”.

Out of the total 51 provisionally attached properties, eight benami assets worth Rs 7.57 crore are "beneficially owned" by Chaurasia and the remaining 43 are "beneficially controlled" by Tiwari, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

The Enforcement Directorate had also issued last year a similar attachment order for assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of the two accused and a few others. With the latest action, the total value of attached properties in this case stands at about Rs 170 crore.

The ED investigation relates to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen", the agency has alleged.

Nine people including Chaurasia and Tiwari have been arrested in the case till now.