SC grants bail to ex-Chhattisgarh CM's deputy secretary in ED case related to coal levy 'scam'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court granted interim bail on Wednesday to former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia, an accused in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal-levy scam.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that Chaurasia was in custody for more than a year and nine months, charges are yet to be framed against her and the trial has not begun.

The top court directed the Chhattisgarh government not to reinstate Chaurasia in service till further orders.

It directed Chaurasia to appear before the trial court as and when required and not to influence the witnesses.

The top court was hearing Chaurasia's plea challenging an August 28 order of the high court by which bail was denied to her.

The bench said since the hearing on her plea will take some time, it is granting her interim bail.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing in the court on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposed the bail and said Chaurasia is a very influential civic servant and releasing her would jeopardise the trial.

However, the bench asked him how long can the ED keep an accused in custody, especially when the maximum sentence for the offence is seven years and even charges have not been framed for a year and nine months.

Representing Chaurasia in the matter, senior advocate Siddharth Dave said all the co-accused in the case have been granted bail and there is no certainty when the trial will begin in the matter.

On Tuesday, the top court had told the ED that it was inclined to grant interim bail to Chaurasia, a Chhattisgarh-cadre civil servant who was a deputy secretary and an officer on special duty (OSD) in the office of the former chief minister.

On December 14 last year, the top court had dismissed Chaurasia's bail plea, saying she was prima facie involved in money laundering.

It had said the ED had collected sufficient evidence to come to the conclusion that Chaurasia was actively involved in the offence of money laundering as defined in section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The federal probe agency had, in 2022, alleged that a "grand conspiracy" was hatched in the natural resources-rich state to perpetrate a "coal-levy scam", in which a total amount of Rs 540 crore was "extorted" over the last two years.

The money-laundering case stems from a complaint lodged by the income-tax department.

The ED investigation relates to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen", the agency had said.