ED conducts raids in Chhattisgarh as part of fresh money laundering probe

Supreme Court asked the agency to "stay their hand in all manner" in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam linked money laundering case

Raipur: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted searches against some IAS officers, a Congress politician and a group of hawala operators in Chhattisgarh as part of an investigation in a fresh money laundering case, official sources said.

More than 15 premises linked to Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ranu Sahu, some other bureaucrats, Chhattisgarh Congress leader and PCC treasurer Ramgopal Agarwal, contractors and hawala dealers in Raipur and other cities were being raided, the sources said.

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Sahu, who has served as a Raigarh Collector earlier, is currently posted as a director in the state agriculture department. She was raided and her assets attached by the ED in the past as part of its probe into the alleged coal levy case.

Visuals showed central paramilitary personnel outside the residences of Sahu and Agrawal in the state capital and Korba Municipal Corporation Commissioner Prabhakar Pandey in Korba.

The action is being undertaken after the federal agency registered a fresh case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

While the exact case in which the raids were being conducted was not known, sources said it could be linked to an alleged rice scam in the poll-bound state.

The agency has been probing an alleged coal levy and liquor scam in the state in which it has arrested some prominent bureaucrats, including IAS officers, apart from politicians and those linked to them.

On July 18, the Supreme Court asked the agency to “stay their hand in all manner” in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam linked money laundering case in Chhattisgarh.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had earlier slammed the ED action in the two money laundering cases saying “all action is being carried out at the behest of state and Central BJP leaders (in Chhattisgarh)”.

The state BJP has alleged irregularities in various government departments.