Money Laundering: Chhattisgarh court orders the ED to keep an IAS officer and two others in custody

Chhattisgarh special court on Friday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and two others in a money laundering case involving the alleged extortion of money from coal and mining transporters in the state.

Ajay Singh Rajput, an additional district and sessions judge, extended the detention of IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, businessman Sunil Agrawal, and Laxmikant Tiwari, the uncle of absconding coal businessman Suryakant Tiwari.

“The accused were produced before the court on expiry of their eight-day ED custody,” Tiwari’s lawyer Faizal Rizvi told reporters.

ED on October 13 arrested Vishnoi, Agrawal and Tiwar after it launched multi-city raids in the state on October 11. The trio was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In a statement issued on October 14, the ED claimed that a “massive scam” was taking place in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh, with a “cartel” of politicians, officers, and others allegedly running a “parallel system of extorting illegal levy,” generating approximately 2-3 crore daily.

The investigation agency claimed that Vishnoi and his wife were in possession of $47 lakh in “unaccounted” cash and 4 kg of gold jewellery.

Raids on the homes of two other IAS officers, Raigarh collector Ranu Sahu and her husband JP Maurya, director of the mining department, were also conducted.