ED raids in Chhattisgarh Baghel wonders why agency leaves out BJP-ruled states

Raipur, Mar 28 (PTI) With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducting fresh raids in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday in the alleged coal levy extortion case, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel questioned why the central agency never takes any action in BJP-ruled states.

The ED conducted searches at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh and also in Andhra Pradesh, officials said earlier in the day.

“The ED has once again conducted raids in Chhattisgarh. No section of society is left to be raided, be it industrialists, traders, transporters, MLAs, officers or farmers," Baghel told reporters.
"Raids are never conducted in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka (all ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party). It seems the ED does not have offices there," he added.

The ED should be unbiased, but action is being taken at the behest of state and Central BJP leaders, the Congress leader claimed.
“The ED does not take action in Karnataka where '40 per commission' government is being run, and Rs 6 crore in cash were recovered from an MLA. It does not take action against Adani....The agency does not take action in connection with the NAN (Nagrik Apurti Nigam) and chit fund scams (which allegedly happened during the previous BJP government in Chhattisgarh),” Baghel further said.
“I have also heard that they are not taking any action in the Mahadev app case after the involvement of some BJP leaders surfaced. Neither the BJP talks about Mahadev app, nor is ED taking any action,” the chief minister said.
The Chhattisgarh police has arrested more than 250 people in the last six months for alleged involvement in online betting through the Mahadev application.
According to officials, the ED searches were underway since early Tuesday morning at several locations in Raipur and Durg districts and some other places.
Premises of a senior bureaucrat and prominent industrialist were also covered in the raids, they said.
The ED investigation relates to "a massive scam in which an 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 earlier.
As per the ED, at least Rs 540 crore were extorted over the last two years.


Premises related to those allegedly linked to Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal and arrested coal businessman Sunil Agarwal, besides a few others, in state capital Raipur and in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh were searched, the official sources said.


Nine people, including state administrative service officer Saumya Chaurasia, coal trader Suryakant Tiwari, his uncle Laxmikant Tiwari and Chhattisgarh-cadre Indian Administrative Service officer Sameer Vishnoi, have been arrested till now in the case by the ED.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)