[Coal Levy ‘Scam’] Apex Court Extends Interim Bail For Former Chhattisgarh CM’s Deputy Secretary In ED Case

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The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, who asked about the case’s progress.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today (28th Nov) has extended the interim bail of Saumya Chaurasia, the former deputy secretary to Chhattisgarh’s ex-chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is accused in a money laundering case related to an alleged coal-levy scam.

Chaurasia was granted interim bail on September 25 after being in custody for over a year and nine months without charges being framed.

The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, who asked about the case’s progress.

Chaurasia’s lawyer, senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, stated that the trial had not yet begun. The bench decided to extend her interim bail and scheduled the next hearing for late January.

BRIEF FACTS

The case involves Chaurasia’s challenge to a Chhattisgarh High Court decision from August 28, which had denied her bail. The Supreme Court had previously directed the state government not to reinstate her to her position while she was out on interim bail, maintaining that she would remain suspended until further orders. It also stated that Chaurasia must appear before the trial court when the trial starts and cooperate fully.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, opposed her bail, citing her influential position as a civil servant and warning that releasing her could interfere with the trial.

Chaurasia, who was an officer on special duty in the office of the former chief minister, had her bail plea dismissed by the Supreme Court on December 14 last year, with the court noting that there was sufficient evidence suggesting her involvement in the money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED’s investigation, based on a complaint by the income-tax department, uncovered a “grand conspiracy” in Chhattisgarh, where a Rs 540 crore extortion scheme took place over two years. The scam allegedly involved a cartel of senior bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen, and middlemen, who were illegally extorting Rs 25 per tonne of coal transported in the state.

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