Raipur: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested IAS officer Ranu Sahu in Chhattisgarh in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged coal levy scam in the state, officials said.
Sahu, who was posted as the director of the state agriculture department, was presented in a court that sent her to three-day ED custody.
She is the second IAS officer in the state to be arrested in the case, after Sameer Vishnoi, an IAS officer of the 2009 batch, who was arrested last year.
Sahu arrested under PMLA
.jpg)
“Sahu was arrested this morning in connection with the alleged coal levy case. She was later produced in a court hearing Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases, which sent her to three-day ED custody,” ED's lawyer Saurabh Pandey said.
Investigation into the case revealed the involvement of Sahu, who had served as Raigarh and Korba collector, in the money laundering offence. Proceeds of the crime as immovable property to the tune of ₹5.52 crore were found in her possession, Pandey said.
Sahu’s counsel Faizal Rizvi said she was arrested on completely fictional grounds. “She had cooperated with the central agency in the alleged coal levy case and appeared before it whenever she was summoned between October last year and January this year. After January, she was never summoned by the ED. There are no facts that establish her involvement in the alleged offence,” he said.
The properties that have been attached under the PMLA linking to Sahu belong to her parents, he said, adding that they date back prior to 2019, while the ED states proceeds of crime are from 2020.
IAS officer terms this action against her as 'politically motivated'
Terming the action against her as “politically motivated”, Sahu requested the court not to send her to the ED custody, her lawyer said.
The agency conducted raids at Sahu’s residence in Raipur on Friday. Her premises were raided earlier as well and her assets were attached by the ED as part of its probe into the alleged coal levy case.
Massive coal scam
The ED had claimed that a “massive scam” was taking place in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh, under which an illegal levy of ₹25 per tonne was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in the state by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.
The agency has so far arrested 10 persons, including prominent bureaucrats, politicians and those linked to them, in the case.
