Daijiworld Media Network - Raipur

Raipur, Apr 19: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has attached properties worth around Rs 4 crore belonging to suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi in connection with a disproportionate assets case linked to the alleged coal levy scam, officials said.

According to an official release, the case was registered against Vishnoi in July 2024 for allegedly amassing assets beyond his known sources of income. During the course of investigation, the agency identified nine immovable properties, suspected to have been acquired through illicit means in the names of his family members and associated firms.

An application seeking attachment of these assets was filed before the Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Raipur. Following a hearing on April 17, the court ordered attachment of all identified properties.

Subsequently, the Anti-Corruption Bureau/EOW executed the attachment, making the properties non-transferable and barring any sale.

Officials also noted that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier provisionally attached five immovable properties linked to Vishnoi as part of its parallel probe into the coal levy scam.

The investigation is part of a larger crackdown, with proceedings underway against other public servants. Authorities had earlier taken action against properties linked to Saumya Chaurasia, a former deputy secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office during the previous Congress government.

Vishnoi, a 2009-batch IAS officer, was arrested by the ED in 2022 in connection with the case and was later granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2025.

The case pertains to an alleged Rs 540 crore scam between July 2020 and June 2022, involving an levy of Rs 25 per tonne on coal transportation, reportedly orchestrated by a network of bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians, and middlemen.