Saumya Chaurasia Wiki, Age, Family, Biography & More

Saumya Chaurasia is an Indian civil servant who was appointed as the Deputy Secretary in 2018 to the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Bhagel who was sworn in as the 3rd Chief Minister on 17 December 2018. She garnered controversy in December 2022 when she was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for her association with a money laundering case and was accused of extorting illegitimate funds from the coal traders of Chhattisgarh.

Wiki/Biography

Saumya Chaurasia also spelt as Soumya Chaurasia ^[1]The Times of India or Soumya Chaurasiya ^[2]The Wire was born on Saturday, 6 October 1979 (age 43 years; as of 2022) in Korba, Chhattīsgarh, India. Her zodiac sign is Libra. Saumya grew up in a middle-class family in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 3″

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

There is not much information available on Saumya’s father. Her mother’s name is Shanti Devi Chaurasia. Saumya has three siblings, two sisters and a brother; her brother works in an MNC in Bangalore.

Husband 

Saumya is married to Sourabh Modi, who was a former employee at the Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. Together, they have two children.

Other Relative

Saumya’s mother-in-law’s name is Asha Mani Modi.

Address

Saumya Chaurasia resides in A-21, Surya Residency, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.

Career

In 2008, Saumya cleared the Chhattisgarh Administrative Service (CAS) test. While completing her training in the Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh, Saumya was appointed as the SDM in Pendra and Bilaspur. In 2011, Saumya was transferred to the Durg district in Chhattisgarh, where she served as the SDM in Bhilai and Patan. In March 2016, Saumya was appointed as the first commissioner of the Bhilai Charoda Municipal Corporation. In 2016, Saumya was posted as Additional Commissioner in Raipur Municipal Corporation, and she was allotted charge of departments like Finance and General Administration. In 2018, Saumya joined the Chief Minister’s office and was appointed as the Deputy Secretary to Bhupesh Baghel, who took oath as the 3rd Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on 17 December 2018.

Controversy

Arrested for alleged connection in a money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Saumya Chaurasia under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on 2 December 2022 for her association in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that Saumya reportedly worked with Suryakant Tiwari, a coal trader, and accused her of extorting money of around 150 crores from coal and mining traders and transporters in Chhattisgarh. The Whatsapp chats of Saumya and Suryakant were accessed by the Income Tax department in which it was evident that she had leaked some crucial confidential information to him. The ED department officials claimed that since 2021, Saumya misused her powerful political influence and encouraged Suryakant and his associates in collecting illegal funds of over Rs 500 crores by extorting an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne from every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh. She was accused of using illegal money in fulfilling the election expenses and accumulating disappropriate assets under the name of her family members. Bhupesh Baghel in a tweet termed the arrest of her deputy secretary as a “political act,” which read,

As I have been saying, the arrest of my Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia by the ED is a political act. We will fight against it with all our might.” ^[3]Hindustan Times

Facts/Trivia

• Saumya is fondly called “Super CM” by her supporters in Chhattisgarh. ^[4]Fast Mail News

• In February 2020, the Income Tax department raided the residence of Saumya Chaurasia in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, but they failed to recover anything illegal following which Bhupesh Bhagel expressed his displeasure and wrote an official letter to Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India in which he addressed the whole scenario as “unconstitutional” and “politically motivated.”
  

  The income Tax team at Saumya Chaurasia’s residence in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh

• Saumya’s residence in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh was raided by the Income Tax department in July 2022 in which they retrieved undeclared cash and jewellery worth Rs 14 crore and supposedly it was assumed that she had evaded income tax worth crores.