 "ED files prosecution complaint in alleged coal levy scam in Chhattisgarh")
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a prosecution complaint before a special court in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal levy scam, in which an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and three others have been named as accused.
The 'prosecution complaint' along with relied upon documents, running into 8000 pages, was filed in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Ajay Singh Rajput under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), said ED's counsel Saurabh Pandey.
IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, the latter's uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and businessman Sunil Agrawal have been named as accused, he added.
The ED's prosecution complaint mentioned that an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted for coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen, he said.
Besides, lands purchased through benami transactions were also mentioned in the prosecution complaint, Pandey informed.
Vishnoi, who is a Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer of the 2009-batch, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and businessman Sunil Agrawal were arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the central probe agency launched multi-city raids in the state on October 11.
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The money laundering investigation was launched after the ED took cognisance of an Income Tax department complaint.
On December 2, the ED arrested Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary posted in Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's office, in the same case.