The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has stepped up offensive in Chhattisgarh’s multi crore coal levy scam, provisionally attaching eight immovable properties worth ₹2.66 crore linked to prime accused Saumya Chaurasia and Nikhil Chandrakar. With this latest action, the cumulative value of assets seized in the case has crossed ₹273 crore, underlining the expanding scale of one of the state’s biggest financial crime probes.
According to the ED’s Raipur Zonal Office, the attached properties, comprising land parcels and residential flats, were acquired using proceeds of crime and deliberately registered in the names of close relatives to mask their true ownership. The attachment has been carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, through a Provisional Attachment Order.
Investigators have traced the funds to an organised extortion mechanism allegedly active between July 2020 and June 2022, during which coal transporters were forced to pay an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne. The ED estimates that the syndicate generated nearly ₹540 crore through these collections. The money was allegedly used to bribe officials, finance election-related expenses and build a portfolio of movable and immovable pop out assets.
The money laundering investigation was initiated on the basis of FIR No. 129/2022 registered by Bengaluru Police, a prosecution complaint filed by the Income Tax Department on June 19, 2023, and FIR No. 03/2024 lodged by the EOW/ACB, Raipur, on January 11, 2024. These cases provided substantive evidence of systematic illegal collections linked to coal transportation in Chhattisgarh.
So far, the ED has arrested 11 accused in connection with the scam and filed five prosecution complaints against 35 individuals before the special PMLA court. Officials said the investigation remains active, with further attachments and legal action likely as the agency continues to follow the money trail and identify additional beneficiaries.