The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted fresh searches at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh as part of its ongoing money-laundering investigation into an illegal coal levy case, official sources said.
The investigation relates to “a massive scam in which illegal levy of Rs 25 was being extorted for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen”, the agency had earlier said.
The ED had said an amount of at least Rs 540 crore was “extorted” over the last two years.
Nine people have been arrested till now in the case by the ED.