Saumya Chaurasia bail plea rejected
Raipur | Correspondent: The bail plea of suspended Deputy Secretary Soumya Chaurasia, who is imprisoned in the high-profile coal scam case in Chhattisgarh, has been rejected.
On Thursday, after the hearing, the First ADJ Court of ACB/EOW had reserved the decision, but shortly thereafter, the court announced the rejection of the bail application.
Defense lawyers Harshvardhan Parghania and Faizal Rizvi presented their arguments in court, referencing a previous judicial remand letter from EOW. They argued that the EOW itself had not indicated the necessity of keeping the accused in judicial custody. They also pointed out that neither the FIR by the ED nor the EOW had any evidence of misuse of position.
The defense lawyers cited several Supreme Court and High Court precedents to request bail. They compared the case to a recent incident where a youth in Jammu and Kashmir posed as a close associate of the Prime Minister, arguing that the individual who misused the Prime Minister’s position was arrested, not the Prime Minister.
The hearing saw a one-hour debate between ACB’s Dr. Saurabh Kumar Pandey and the defense lawyers. After the hearing, the First ADJ Court reserved the decision but announced it within hours, rejecting the bail plea.
Accusations of a Scam Exceeding 540 Crores
The ED and Income Tax Department accused Soumya Chaurasia and others of collecting over 540 crores in illegal coal levy in Chhattisgarh.
It was alleged that state officials, leaders, and businessmen started an illegal collection of 25 rupees per ton in coal transportation, altering online coal transportation permission rules to allow only those who paid the illegal levy to transport coal offline.
In this case, the ED arrested Congress leader and businessman Suryakant Tiwari, IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, coal trader Sunil Agrawal, and Soumya Chaurasia, a close aide of then-Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Suryakant Tiwari’s uncle, Laxmikant Tiwari, mineral officer Shivshankar Nag, Rajesh Chaudhary, and Sandeep Nayak were also accused and arrested.
In Jail for One and a Half Years
Soumya Chaurasia, Deputy Secretary to then-Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was arrested on December 2, 2022, in connection with the coal levy scam and alleged money laundering.
The 44-year-old 2008 batch state administrative service officer has been in jail since then.
She made several attempts to get bail, but her applications were rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court.
On December 14 last year, the Supreme Court not only rejected her bail plea but also imposed a fine of one lakh rupees.
