<p>The ED on Friday arrested Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary rank officer posted in Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's office, in connection with a money laundering investigation into an alleged coal levy scam in the state, official sources said.</p>.<p>Chaurasia, considered a powerful bureaucrat of the state, was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) post her questioning by the federal agency.</p>.<p>The officer was taken for a health checkup after the arrest even as the local media followed her along with the ED team, escorted by CRPF personnel, to the court.</p>.<p>The agency had in October arrested Sameer Vishnoi, an IAS officer of the state, and two others, after conducting several raids in the case.</p>.<p>The money laundering investigation, launched after the ED took cognisance of a Income Tax department complaint, pertains to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne is being extorted from every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen."</p>.<p>Baghel, last week while speaking to reporters, stepped up his attack on the ED, accusing the probe agency of crossing its limits and treating people inhumanely in the state.</p>
<p>The ED on Friday arrested Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary rank officer posted in Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's office, in connection with a money laundering investigation into an alleged coal levy scam in the state, official sources said.</p>.<p>Chaurasia, considered a powerful bureaucrat of the state, was taken into custody under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) post her questioning by the federal agency.</p>.<p>The officer was taken for a health checkup after the arrest even as the local media followed her along with the ED team, escorted by CRPF personnel, to the court.</p>.<p>The agency had in October arrested Sameer Vishnoi, an IAS officer of the state, and two others, after conducting several raids in the case.</p>.<p>The money laundering investigation, launched after the ED took cognisance of a Income Tax department complaint, pertains to "a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne is being extorted from every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen."</p>.<p>Baghel, last week while speaking to reporters, stepped up his attack on the ED, accusing the probe agency of crossing its limits and treating people inhumanely in the state.</p>