ED trapping people, forcing them to sign documents: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday mounted a blistering attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accusing it of 'targeting' Congress leaders and "threatening them into signing documents".
"More than 50 searches have taken place since Congress' 85th plenary in February. The central agency is not revealing anything, including how much money or assets were seized during the raids," Baghel told reporters in Durg district.
"We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, and the central agency should tell us where the corruption is.We will take action. The ED is just groping in the dark in Chhattisgarh. The ED is just trapping people and forcing them to sign the documents. Many people have complained about this. We have written to the Union home minister about this," he said.
The ED started its searches in October last year with action against several officers and businessmen. On October 15, the central agency issued a statement stating that it was probing an illegal coal levy scam, an extortion cartel involving officers, and businessmen who used to illegally collect Rs 25 per tonne of coal transported in the state. IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary in the CMO, businessmen Suryakant Tiwari, Sunil Agrawal, Laxmikant Tiwari and others were arrested by the ED under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Last Friday, the central agency carried out searches on several officers from the excise department, liquor businessmen, property dealers, and transporters, and questioned many of them the next day. While there were indications that the ED was probing certain liquor deals, officially there is no word from the central agency about the nature of searches, its findings, and any seizures.
There were also indications about the possibility of some arrests as security was beefed up at the court premises for a long time, but it was withdrawn later in the evening.
Baghel govt protecting the corrupt, says Sao
The opposition BJP on Sunday demanded that CM Baghel should explain what action was being taken against 'corrupt' officials of the state. Referring to a letter sent by the ED to the state government urging action against public servants facing corruption charges based on findings of the central agency, state BJP president Arun Sao, an MP, accused the Baghel government of trying to protect the corrupt.
Displaying what he said was a screenshot from the official website of the CMO, Sao said that Chourasia's name wasn't deleted from the website till 1 PM on Sunday. "Mrs. Chourasia is now in judicial custody. Has she been suspended," he asked.
On the allegation of the CM and other Congress leaders that the BJP government is targeting the opposition, Sao said that assets worth Rs 5,000 crore were seized under PMLA during the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, but it rose to Rs 1.10 lakh crore during BJP's nine-year government. "During this period, 5,906 cases were registered under PMLA, 176 of them against those associated with different political groups, which is only 2.9% of the total number of cases," Sao said, dismissing the allegation.
Baghel, who has been setting up SITs, and judicial commissions on every matter for parallel investigations against the rules, should inform about action taken against the officers facing corruption charges after ED raids, Sao said.TNN