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Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
6 key accused in Chhattisgarh ‘coal scam' freed from jail after SC grants bail
RAIPUR: Two days after being granted interim bail by Supreme Court, six accused in the Rs 570 crore coal-levy scam in Chhattisgarh -- including suspended IAS officers Ranu Sahu and Sameer Vishnoi, and former deputy secretary in then CM Bhupesh Baghel's office, Saumya Chaurasia -- walked out of Raipur jail on Saturday morning. While the apex court had approved their bail on Thursday, officials say their release was delayed by a day due to late arrival of formal release orders at the prison. Businessmen Rajnikant Tiwari, Virendra Jaiswal and Sandeep Nayak are the other three released from prison. Family members of the accused were present outside the prison to receive them. The SC bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta granted bail to eight accused, but six were released on Saturday. Two others — businessman Suryakant Tiwari, alleged kingpin of the scam, and Nikhil Chandrakar — remain in custody due to pending cases. SC directed that all released individuals must leave Chhattisgarh immediately and must not reside in the state until further orders, citing concerns about potential witness tampering. They are required to submit their passports to the special court, provide their residential address outside Chhattisgarh within a week, inform local police of their new address, cooperate fully with investigation agencies and appear in court whenever required. While Chaurasia spent nearly two and a half years in prison, Vishnoi was behind bars around a month longer, and Sahu for just over 22 months. Reacting to their release, Chhattisgarh minister Ramvichar Netam said, 'Getting bail doesn't mean the crime didn't happen. The investigation will continue and more names will surface.' Minister Kedar Kashyap added, 'Those involved in corruption will keep going in and out of jail. Even Congress leaders are on bail. The guilty will not be spared.' Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that the scam involves a 'syndicate' of a section of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen who extorted money from coal transporters, generating over Rs 570 crore in illegal levies. The alleged scam involved turning online transport permits into offline ones — a move authorized on July 15, 2020, by then mining director Sameer Vishnoi — which allowed selective issuance of permits in exchange for bribes. Coal traders were allegedly forced to pay Rs 25 per ton to receive transport clearances. Tiwari, according to ED, collected the money through his employees and coordinated with officials for smooth issuance of permits. Those complying with the extortion were allegedly rewarded with permits from the mining department. Defence counsel Faizal Rizvi on Friday told the Press that SC has issued release of eight persons but as of now six of them are getting released, while other two, businessmen Suryakant Tiwari and Nikhil Chandrakar is still pending due to other cases against them and they will continue to remain in judicial custody.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
3 bureaucrats walk out of jail after getting bail in Chhattisgarh coal levy ‘scam'
Three bureaucrats, including two IAS officers, and three other accused walked out of Raipur central jail on Saturday morning, two days after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in three cases related to alleged irregularities in coal levy and District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund. The bureaucrats are IAS officers Sameer Vishnoi and Ranu Sahu, and Saumya Chaurasia, who was serving as deputy secretary to the former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel-led government. The three were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case, wherein a syndicate of government servants and private persons have been accused of illegally levying money for the movement of coal. According to the ED, the coal case involves an alleged cartel of bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen, which was extorting Rs 25 per tonne of coal transported into Chhattisgarh. The proceeds of the crime, the ED alleged, were being used for 'investing in benami assets, bribing officials to influence senior officers and on behalf of political executives of the state.' The alleged scam took place between 2020 to 2022. As per 3,000 diary entries analysed by the ED, the total levy allegedly collected by the cartel is Rs 540 crore. The agency began its probe in 2022 and made several high-profile arrests in the case, filing multiple chargesheets and naming several accused. While Vishnoi (posted as director of Geology and Mining at the time) was arrested in October 2022, Chaurasia was arrested in December 2022, and Sahu, who was posted as collector in Korba from June 2021 to June 2022, was arrested in July 2023. Speaking with The Indian Express, their lawyer Faizal Rizwi said, 'A total of eight people – Saumya Chaurasiya, Ranu Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi, Suryakant Tiwari, Rajinkant Tiwari, Nikhil Chandrakar, Virendra Jaiswal and Sandeep Naik – got bail in three cases. Two cases related to coal levy were registered by the ED and Chhattisgarh's Anti-Corruption Bureau, and a third was in the DMF fund case. Except for Suryakant and Nikhil (also arrested in other cases), the remaining six have been released on bail.' While granting bail, the Supreme Court laid down certain conditions to ensure the accused do not interfere with the case. The order states, 'As far as the petitioners Ranu Sahu, Suryakant Tiwari, Sameer Vishnoi and Saumya Chaurasiya are concerned, it is directed that they shall not stay in the State of Chhattisgarh till further orders, except that they shall remain present before the investigating agency or the trial court as and when required.' They have been asked to provide their new address outside of Chhattisgarh to the police. 'In the event the petitioners are found to contact the witnesses or influence them in any manner or to tamper with evidence, the same shall be taken as a misuse of concession of interim bail,' the court said. They have also been asked to deposit their passports immediately before the special court.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Six accused in Chhattisgarh's coal levy scam set for release after apex court grants interim bail
RAIPUR: Day after Supreme Courtgranted interim bail to six accused inChhattisgarh coal-levy scam including two suspended IAS officers Ranu Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi and a former state officer Saumya Chaurasia, they are scheduled to be released from Raipur jail on Saturday. The release, initially scheduled for today, was delayed due to late receipt of release orders at the Raipur Central Jail. The defense counsel advocate Faizal Rizvi told the media that Saumya Chaurasia, former deputy secretary to the ex-Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Ranu Sahu, suspended IAS officer, Sameer Vishnoi, suspended IAS officer, and others including Rajnikant Tiwari, Virendra Jaiswal, Sandeep Nayak will be released on Saturday while the timing has not been confirmed yet. Rizvi said that the SC has issued release of eight persons but as of now six of them are getting released, while other two, businessmen Suryakant Tiwari and Nikhil Chandrakar is still pending due to other cases against them and they will continue to remain in judicial custody. The Supreme Court bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta granted bail but imposed a key condition — all six accused must not stay within Chhattisgarh until further orders. The restriction aims to prevent possible tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses. The bail conditions include that the accused must report their residential address outside the state within a week of release, they must submit their passports to designated special courts, mandatory cooperation with investigation agencies and court appearances and furnish details of current residence must be shared with the jurisdictional police station. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleges a massive Rs 570 crore illegal coal levy scam involving a nexus of bureaucrats, politicians, and traders. The scam operated by converting online permits to offline, enabling a systematic extortion racket from coal transporters. A key player, Sameer Vishnoi, then Director of the State Mining Department, allegedly issued the order that enabled this offline transition on July 15, 2020. Traders were forced to pay Rs 25 per ton to the network allegedly led by Suryakant Tiwari in exchange for transport clearances. The ED claimed that Suryakant Tiwari, a coal businessman, ran the collection syndicate and acted as the kingpin, with bureaucrats and political operatives facilitating the scam. Over time, the network extorted over Rs 570 crore. The case has become one of the largest corruption scandals in Chhattisgarh's recent history, with political ramifications and a sweeping legal battle still underway.
