The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia in connection with a money laundering matter pertaining to an illegal mining case.
A special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Raipur district subsequently sent her in the custody of the ED for four days.
After the arrest, taking to Twitter, Baghel said that the arrest is a political act and they will fight against it with all their might.
This action against one more administrative officer comes a day after, ED in Jharkhand provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 82.77 crore belonging to Pooja Singhal, IAS officer in Ranchi.
Who is Saumya Chaurasia?
Saumya Chaurasia is a civil servant from the Chhattisgarh Administrative Service (CAS) and joined the chief minister’s office after Baghel formed the government in the state in 2018.
The deputy secretary was under the radar of central agencies in an illegal mining case. Prior to ED raid, the sleuths of the Income Tax Department carried out raids on the premises of the officer and attached several properties linked to her, one government official informed.
However, in this case, the lady officer was first summoned for custody and then she was put under arrest by ED.
Central agencies also questioned the Deputy Secretary several times in the past two months, a government official said on the verge of anonymity.
Crackdown in Chattisgarh
Baghel last week had accused the probe agency of crossing its limits and treating people inhumanely The ED in October carried out multi-city raids in the state as part of its probe.
It arrested IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and another coal businessman Sunil Agrawal. All four are in jail in judicial custody.
The money laundering investigation was launched after the ED took cognisance of an Income Tax department complaint.
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