New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Soumya Chaurasia, deputy secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is accused in a money laundering case related to the alleged ‘coal levy scam’. A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Dutta and Ujjwal Bhuiyan said that Chaurasia has been in custody for more than a year and nine months, charges against her are yet to be framed and the trial is yet to begin. The apex court directed the Chhattisgarh government not to reinstate Chaurasia in service till further orders.
The bench directed Chaurasia to appear in the subordinate court whenever required and not to influence the witnesses. The bench was hearing Chaurasia’s petition, which challenged the High Court’s order of August 28. The High Court had refused to grant bail to Chaurasia. The bench said, since hearing Chaurasia’s petition will take some time, it is granting him interim bail.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposed the bail and said that Chaurasia is a very influential bureaucrat and his release will affect the trial. The bench asked Raju how long can the ED keep an accused in custody, especially when the maximum punishment for the crime is seven years and charges have not been framed for one year and nine months.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Chaurasia, said all the co-accused in the case have got bail and there is no certainty as to when the hearing in the case will begin. The federal probe agency had alleged in 2022 that a “big conspiracy” was hatched in the natural resource-rich state to carry out the coal levy ‘scam’. The agency had claimed that Rs 540 crore was recovered in the last two years in this alleged scam. The money laundering case is based on a complaint from the Income Tax Department. The agency had said that the ED investigation is related to “a big scam in which a gang involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen was illegally extorting Rs 25 per tonne on the transportation of coal in Chhattisgarh.”