Moving ahead in its probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four more accused in the connection with the illegal coal levy scam in Chhattisgarh.
Deepesh Taunk – a close confidant of one of the main accused and former deputy secretary in CMO, Saumya Chaurasia, mining officers Sandeep Kumar Nayak (Surajpur) and Shiv Shankar Nag (Korba), and Rajesh Chaudhary have been arrested by the agency.
According to ED officials, Nayak and Nag knowingly and willingly assisted the syndicate of Suryakant Tiwari in committing extortion and acquisition of the proceeds of the crime.
Chaudhary is accused of cheating people by claiming to work as a middleman to settle cases.
“During his interrogation, it was discovered that he had also created fake ID cards of ED officer and was also declaring himself as an ED employee in various KYC documents submitted to banks,” the agency said.
The agency said that Rajesh had acquired part of the proceeds of the crime.
A special court sent them to the ED custody for three days till January 30.
The ED had earlier issued attached proceeds of crime worth ₹152.5 crores and has filed a chargesheet under the PMLA.
The ED had recently carried out searches in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and Pune in connection with the case which pertains to the extortion of an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne for each tonne of coal that was transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen politicians and middlemen.