The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested IAS officer Ranu Sahu of the Chhattisgarh cadre on Thursday, in the District Mineral Fund (DMF) scam case. Sahu was arrested just two days after ED’s Raipur-based unit arrested another woman officer named Maya Varier in the same case.
A special court has granted ED the custody of the two officers till October 22. As per the ED, both the officers are prime accused in the DMF scam.
The probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was initiated based on an FIR filed by the Chhattisgarh Police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was filed against the IAS officer for allegedly siphoning off exchequer money by DMF contractors in collusion with officials of the state government and political executives.
This case is related to corruption and misuse of funds from the District Mineral Fund in Chhattisgarh. DMF is a trust funded by miners that has been set up in all districts of Chhattisgarh to work for the benefit of those affected by mining-related projects and activities.
From May 2021 to June 2022, Ranu Sahu was the district collector of Chhattisgarh’s Korba district and Maya Varier was the Assistant Commissioner of the Tribal Development Department in Korba.
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The ED said in a statement, “During their (both Sahu and Varier) tenure in Korba, an organised system of collection of illegal commission from the vendors and contractors was being operated.”
The investigation conducted by ED revealed that the “contractors have paid huge amounts in commission and illegal gratification to officials, which is to the tune of 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the contract value.”
“Cash used for payment of kickbacks was generated by the vendors and contractors using accommodation entries,” the statement further said.
ED investigation in the case further revealed that the DMF fund only allocated to the Korba district is more than ₹1,000 crore from its inception till the Financial Year 2022-23. It also showed that with the prevalent rate, the commission amount itself is in hundreds 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 balance and jewellery amounting to ₹2.32 crore.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
