On Friday, the Supreme Court seeks the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to a bail application submitted by suspended bureaucrat Saumya Chaurasia in a money-laundering case.

Chaurasia, who previously served as the Deputy Secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, is seeking bail for the third time in this case.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan has scheduled the next hearing for September 20. Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, along with advocates Pallavi Sharma and Harshwardhan Parganiha, represented Chaurasia in court.

The Court was hearing an appeal against the Chhattisgarh High Court's August 28 order, which had rejected Chaurasia's third bail plea. Chaurasia has been in custody since December 2022. The money-laundering case against her is linked to a coal scam in Chhattisgarh, involving allegations of extortion and illegal levies related to coal mining and transport in the state.

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the scam amounted to ₹500 crore over 16 months, with the funds allegedly used for election campaigns and various bribes.

The central agency alleges that Chaurasia used the funds to acquire benami assets for the benefit of the coal mafia in collusion with state government officials. Additionally, it is claimed that she pressured other officers to comply with her demands using her position in the Chief Minister's office.

Chaurasia, however, argues that there is no solid evidence linking her to the alleged scam and that no money has been recovered from her to date.

On December 14 last year, the Supreme Court denied Chaurasia's bail application and imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh after discovering that some facts in her petition were inaccurately presented. Specifically, the Court noted that Chaurasia’s petition falsely claimed that the chargesheet had been filed after the judgment was reserved, while it was argued that the chargesheet had not been considered. The Court observed that the petition’s assertion that the charges of criminal conspiracy and extortion had been dropped from the chargesheet represented a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts.