E-Paper
Bengal coal smuggling case: ED files first chargesheet, names ex-TMC leader’s brother
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet in Bengal’s coal smuggling case and has named former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing general secretary Vinay Mishra’s brother Vikas and former officer-in-charge of Bankura police station, Ashok Mishra, as prime accused, but thus far has not mentioned TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet in Bengal’s coal smuggling case and has named former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing general secretary Vinay Mishra’s brother Vikas and former officer-in-charge of Bankura police station, Ashok Mishra, as prime accused, but thus far has not mentioned TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The coal smuggling case became a political issue on the eve of the assembly polls as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is also conducting a probe, questioned Rujira Narula, wife of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had at the time visited Abhishek Banerjee at his residence in a show of support, even as the BJP used the questioning as a charge in their political campaign. Narula’s sister and the latter’s husband and father-in-law were also questioned.
Filed at a special court in Delhi on Tuesday, the chargesheet, does not mention Abhishek Banerjee, ED officials said on condition of anonymity. The agency told the court that it will file supplementary chargesheets as the probe progresses.
The ED arrested Vikas Mishra in Delhi in March and attached his property. In April, Ashok Mishra was arrested by the ED in Delhi. He was questioned by the CBI as well. Both have since been released on bail.
The ED has alleged in its chargesheet that Ashok Mishra physically carried cash to some senior police officers. The ED told a Delhi court in June that he received ₹168 crore from the coal mafia.
It is alleged that illegally mined coal, worth several thousand crores of rupees, have been sold in the black market over several years by a racket operating in the western parts of Bengal where the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) runs several mines. The CBI has grilled several officers of the Bengal police, the ECL and the Central Industrial Security Force which guards the mines.
During the investigation, the ED summoned seven Indian Police Service (IPS) officers posted in Bengal but only three of them appeared for questioning, officials said.
Vinay Mishra, a Kolkata-based businessman who was a general secretary of the TMC’s youth wing that Abhishek Banerjee headed till early June, is a prime accused in the coal smuggling case as well as the cattle smuggling case that the CBI is probing.
On December 31, CBI raided Vinay Mishra’s properties at Chetla and Rashbehari in south Kolkata and Lake Town in east Kolkata.
After remaining untraceable for months and declared an absconder by the CBI, Vinay Mishra informed the Calcutta high court on June 7 that he relinquished Indian citizenship in November last year.
Vinay Mishra is believed to be living in Vanuatu, a chain of 80 islands in the south Pacific, whose citizenship he acquired. A report in Vanuatu media in July said he was granted citizenship under its Development Support Program, which requires applicants to possess net personal assets worth $ 500,000 ( ₹3.7 crores). On July 28, The Calcutta high court rejected Vinay Mishra’s request to stop the CBI probe against him in the coal and cattle smuggling cases. The bench of justice Tirthankar Ghosh also declined to extend its order that shielded him from arrest.
