EOW files charge sheet against Devendra Dadsena and Navneet Tiwari in illegal coal levy case
Raipur
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday filed a nearly 1,500-page charge sheet against accused Devendra Dadsena and Navneet Tiwari in the alleged illegal coal levy collection case of 2024.
The charge sheet was submitted to the Special Court (Prevention of Corruption Act), Raipur, under Sections 120B, 384, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 7, 7A, and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended by the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018). Both accused remain in judicial custody at Central Jail, Raipur.
The EOW had previously filed the first charge sheet in July 2024 against 15 accused — Saumya Chaurasia, Ranu Sahu, Sameer Vishnoi, Shivshankar Nag, Sandeep Kumar Nayak, Suryakant Tiwari, Nikhil Chandrakar, Laxmikant Tiwari, Hemant Jaiswal, Chandraprakash Jaiswal, Sheikh Moinuddin Qureshi, Parekh Kurre, Rahul Singh, Roshan Kumar Singh, and Virendra Jaiswal.
A supplementary charge sheet was then filed in October 2024 against two other accused — Manish Upadhyay and Rajnikant Tiwari.
Accused Devendra Dadsena served as the Personal Assistant (PA) to Congress Treasurer Ramgopal Agrawal. He was the actual receiver and intermediary for the large volume of cash generated from the illegal coal levy collection.
Entries recorded as “Bhavan” at the Congress Bhavan, Raipur, confirm the illegal transactions he managed. Dadsena was an essential link in the entire criminal chain. He not only physically received the illegal cash but also transported it to other accused involved in the coal scam. Evidence indicates he played an active and crucial role in the receiving, custody, and transfer of illegal funds worth crores of rupees.
Accused Navneet Tiwari was an active member of the illegal coal levy collection syndicate. He systematically terrorised coal traders and transporters in Raigarh district to collect crores of rupees illegally, acting on the instructions of accused Suryakant Tiwari.
Tiwari regularly transferred the collected amounts from Raigarh to syndicate members in Raipur. He also acted as a benamidar for properties purchased with illegal earnings from the coal scam by Suryakant Tiwari. Digital, documentary, and oral evidence confirms the charges against Navneet Tiwari.
The investigation is currently underway against all other potential accused in the case.
