ED files complaint against CGPSC ex-chair, 6 others

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.

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.

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.

It is the first prosecution complaint filed by the federal agency in the case.

According to the ED investigation, 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.

The agency has also alleged that when the CGPSC recruitment rules were amended in 2021, Ganvir played a role in removing the word “nephew” from the definition of “family”, allegedly facilitating the selection of relatives of then chairman Sonwani.

Utkarsh and Vikas Chandrakar allegedly arranged preliminary and mains examination papers for candidates and collected money from them, the agency has alleged.

Sonwani was arrested by the ED in July as part of its investigation related to alleged corruption, question paper leaks and manipulation of examinations conducted by the commission in 2020 and 2021 for posts including deputy collectors and deputy superintendents of police.

The money laundering investigation stems from an FIR registered by the Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW), a subsequent complaint filed by the CBI in July 2024 and three charge sheets filed in 2025.

Sonwani was also arrested by the CBI in 2024.

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.

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.