ED searches premises of Congress treasurer, IAS officer, bizmen in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a series of searches, targeting high-profile individuals, including the state Congress treasurer, an IAS officer and other officials, and businessmen in Chhattisgarh as part of a 'money laundering' probe.
ED sleuths swooped down on a dozen premises, including the residences of Congress leader Ram Gopal Agrawal, IAS officer Ranu Sahu, Korba Municipal Corporation commissioner Prabhakar Pandey, and a couple of businessmen on Friday morning.The central agency is yet to reveal the specific case in which these fresh searches were carried out.
This is the second time that Agrawal and Ranu Sahu, a 2010-batch IAS officer, have been searched by ED. Sahu and her husband J P Mourya, also an IAS officer, were earlier questioned by the ED in connection with the alleged coal levy scam.
Amid the wait for an official word from the ED, there is speculation that the searches on the Congress treasurer have something to do with rice and custom milling of paddy, following the income-tax search on several rice millers two days ago.
Confirming the ED search at Agrawal's premises, PCC media cell chairman Sushil Anand Shukla alleged that there is a systematic attempt to discredit the state's politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen by misusing central agencies ahead of the assembly elections.