Multiple ED raids in Chhattisgarh, CM Baghel says it's 'intimidation'

RAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched at least 40 premises in Raipur, Mahasamund, Raigarh, Korba and Durg districts belonging to three IAS officers, a senior state service bureaucrat, a Congress ex-MLA and his businessman son-in-law, and several other businessmen.

Among the most prominent who came under the ED's scanner were an IAS couple - Raigarh collector Ranu Sahu and her husband JP Maurya, director of the state mining department. The premises of another IAS officer, Sameer Vishnoi, CEO of Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, was also searched. ED teams also swooped down on the premises of state administrative cadre officer Saumya Chaurasia, deputy secretary in the chief minister's secretariat.

Reacting to the searches, CM Bhupesh Baghel said, "It's a clear attempt to harass and intimidate. This is not the first time and not the last either. They (income-tax and ED) will come again and again and the frequency of their visits will increase with upcoming assembly polls."

The premises of former MLA Agni Chandrakar, chairman of Chhattisgarh State Seed Corporation, his son-in-law and businessman Suryakant Tiwar, and a chartered accountant Vijay Malu were also searched.

After a recent income tax/ED search on his premises, Tiwari had claimed that officers of the central agencies had offered him the chief minister's post if he engineered a split in the Congress legislature party in Chhattisgarh. The operation was on at the time of filing this report. The ED was yet to release details of the searches.

BJP leader and former CM Raman Singh accused the Congress government of corruption and claimed that crores had been accumulated through coal and coal transportation. He said collectors were working as 'collection agents' for the Congress government.