Saumya Chaurasia, deputy secretary to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel,was arrested by the ED

Raipur,02 DECEMBER I A top bureaucrat in Chhattisgarh has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, or ED, for alleged money laundering. Saumya Chaurasia, deputy secretary to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was arrested by the ED. Ms Chaurasia was taken for a health check-up after the arrest. Escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force, or CRPF, she was then taken to a local court.The ED in October arrested Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sameer Vishnoi and two others after conducting raids in the case.

The money laundering investigation, launched after the ED took note of a complaint by the income tax department, is linked to an alleged scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne had been extorted from every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.Ms Chaurasia’s home was also raided in February 2020. The chief minister had called the raid by the central agency a “political revenge” and claimed there was an attempt to “destabilise” his government.