ED says ex-officer in Baghel office ‘link’ in coal levy scam; she denies

Her lawyer, Faizal Rizvi, told The Indian Express, “There is no evidence against my client. This is a politically motivated case to destabilise the (Congress-led) Chhattisgarh government. We will apply for her bail in a week’s time.”

The prosecution complaint names three IPS officers, among several other government officials, who allegedly passed on information to Tiwari, purportedly on Chaurasia’s instructions.

According to ED’s 5,000-plus-page complaint, this syndicate allegedly involved senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen and extorted Rs 25 for each tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh — over and above the legal amount fixed by South Eastern Coalfields Limited, a Central PSU.

Tiwari, the ED says, collected the money from transporters; the agency says transporters received delivery orders from the state government only after his green signal. The syndicate, the agency has submitted, extorted approximately Rs 540 crore from coal transporters and other businessmen in the state.

The ED analysed 3,000 diary entries and found that Rs 540 crore levy was collected through these means, the complaint says. The agency also submitted details of Rs 277 crore spent, out Rs 540 crore — of this, the agency stated, approximately Rs 170 crore was spent on purchase of benami assets, including immovable properties; Rs 36 crore was directly transferred to Chaurasia; Rs 52 crore paid to a senior politician of a political party; Rs 4 crore given to Chhattisgarh MLAs; Rs 6 crore to former MLAs or other politicians; Rs 5 crore was sent to Jharkhand; and Rs 4 crore to Bengaluru.

The complaint mentions a relative of Tiwari, identified as Manish Upadhyay, as being in close touch with Chaurasia. In order to avoid the trail of technical evidence, Upadhyay was allegedly given a flat by Tiwari, which was located opposite Chaurasia’s flat in the same gated housing society in Bhilai. Upadhyay, ED alleges, was a middleman and allegedly transferred cash from Tiwari to Chaurasia.