The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a prosecution complaint against seven persons, including former Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC) chairman Taman Singh Sonwani, in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted during the previous Congress government.
Besides Sonwani, the accused named in the complaint are businessman Shravan Goyal, then CGPSC Deputy Controller (Examination) Lalit Ganvir, Utkarsh Chandrakar, nephew of K K Chandravanshi, a former personal assistant to former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Vikas Chandrakar, Anil Chandrakar and Chetan Borghariya, a state services officer who was posted as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the office of former chief minister Baghel. Borghariya is the seventh accused named in the prosecution complaint. The agency alleged that question papers were leaked and the selection process was manipulated in exchange for illegal gratification to facilitate the selection of Sonwani’s relatives and other favoured candidates for senior government posts, including deputy collector and deputy superintendent of police.
The 99-page prosecution complaint, along with documents running into around 3,700 pages, seen by HT , was filed before the Special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Court in Raipur, ED counsel Sourabh Kumar Pande said. The CBI case was registered after the BJP defeated the Congress and formed the government in Chhattisgarh in November 2023. In a statement issued on July 27, the ED had alleged that Sonwani, while serving as CGPSC chairman, entered into a criminal conspiracy with other public servants and private individuals.
Goyal allegedly provided money to an NGO, Gramin Vikas Samiti (GVS), associated with Sonwani, as part of an arrangement to facilitate the selection of his son and daughter-in-law in CGPSC examinations, according to the ED investigation.
