Enforcement Directorate has intensified its investigation into allegations of corruption and misuse of funds from the District Mineral Fund (DMF) a trust set up in all the districts of the state, funded by miners to work for the benefit of those affected by mining-related projects.
On Thursday the agency arrested suspended IAS officer Ranu Sahu two days after it arrested Maya Varier, another woman officer of the Chhattisgarh government in connection with the same case. Following the arrest, a special court remanded a five-day custody of both the officials to ED.
ED’s investigation into the matter stemmed from separate FIRs registered by the Chhattisgarh police for siphoning off of the exchequer money by DMF contractors in collusion with officials of the state government and political executives.
According to the media reports, both IAS officer Ranu Sahu the then district collector of Chhattisgarh Korba district (between 2021-22) and Maya Varier the then Assistant Commissioner of Tribal Development Department, Korba (Aug 2021 to March 2023) are prime accused in the case. An organized system of collection of illegal commission from the vendors and contractors was being operated during the tenure of both the officials.
Contractors have paid huge amounts in commission and illegal gratification to officials, which is to the tune of 25% to 40% of the contract value while cash used for payment of kickbacks was generated by the vendors and contractors using accommodation entries.ED investigation has revealed that the DMF Fund allocated only to district Korba is more than Rs 1,000 crore from its inception till financial year 2022-2023 and with the prevalent rate of commission, commission amount alone in Korba is to the tune of hundred of crores.
Earlier, ED’s Raipur unit had carried out search operations in the case of government officers, vendors, contractors and accommodation entry providers in various locations in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra linked to the DMF scam which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents, digital evidence, cash and bank blance and jewellery amounting over Rs 2.3 crore.
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