Saumya Chaurasia, a former deputy chief secretary in the previous Congress-run government in Chhattisgarh, was on Tuesday chargesheeted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)/Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in a disproportionate assets case for allegedly amassing Rs 46.96 crore. The amount is 1872% higher than her known sources of income and is the highest value of disproportionate assets amassed by a government servant in the history of the agency in the state, said an official. In December 2022, Chaurasia, a state administrative officer who worked as deputy chief secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into alleged money laundering in a Rs 540-crore coal levy case. She was granted bail by the Supreme Court in May this year. Months after the BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh, the state’s ACB/EOW, in 2024, booked Chaurasia in three separate cases — the coal levy case, misappropriation of District Monetary Foundation (DMF) fund, and disproportionate assets case. As per the EOW chargesheet running into 8,000 pages, Chaurasia bought properties in the name of five of her relatives, including her mother, husband, cousin and sister’s father-in-law. According to the chargesheet, Chaurasia has been found to have made benami investments in approximately 45 immovable properties in the names of her family members and other individuals. These are real estate investments in three districts – Durg, Raipur and Korba, it added. According to the bureau's investigation, Chaurasia made illegal earnings of approximately Rs 49. 69 crore. An official said, “During her 17 years of service, Chaurasia and her family's legal income was approximately Rs 2.52 crore. Thus, she earned 1872.86% more as illegal income during her entire service. The investigation has also revealed that the maximum investment of illegal money in properties was made by Chaurasia between 2019 to 2022.” A 2008 batch state administrative service officer, Chaurasia was first posted as Deputy Collector in Bilaspur district. “Prior to this, she served as an Accounts Officer in 2005. In 2019, she was appointed Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office,” said the official.
