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CBI files first charge sheet against 41 accused in Bengal coal smuggling case
The CBI charge sheet in the Bengal coal smuggling case has named 41 people including the alleged kingpin of the operation and a former Trinamool Congress leader
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed its first charge sheet in the Bengal coal smuggling case against 41 people, including Anup Majhi, alias Lala, the alleged kingpin of the operation, former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra and eight recently-arrested employees of the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), agency officials said.
The investigation is continuing, CBI told a special court at Asansol in West Burdwan district where the charge sheet was filed. The probe started in November 2020.
The charge sheet named Joydeb Mondal, Narayan Nanda, Nirad Mondal and Gurupada Majhi who were arrested by CBI in September last year on charges of helping Majhi run the operation.
The eight ECL employees, including three former and a serving general manager, were arrested in Kolkata between July 13 and 15 after they were interrogated for hours. This was the first time central government officials were arrested in this case.
CBI said in a statement last week that some railway officials are also under investigation.
It is alleged that illegally mined coal, worth several thousand crores of rupees, have been sold in the black market in recent years by a racket operating in the western parts of Bengal where ECL, an arm of Coal India Limited owned by the Union coal ministry , runs several mines.
Lawyers who were present at the special court in Asansol on Tuesday said CBI officials told the court that Majhi collaborated with former TMC youth wing general secretary Vinay Mishra. One of the prime accused, Mishra renounced his Indian citizenship in December 2020 and became a citizen of Vanuatu, a small island country in the south-west Pacific.
The charge sheet mentioned the names of Mishra’s alleged associates, Ratnesh Verma, Niraj Singh and Amit Singh. The last two are brothers who run a business in Kolkata. CBI has appealed to the court to issue non-bailable arrest warrants against Mishra and these three persons by declaring them absconders.
The charge sheet also accused the owners and directors of eight private companies through which hefty transactions allegedly took place.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting a parallel probe into the alleged coal smuggling. ED filed charge sheet against Majhi at a special court in Delhi last year. He was granted anticipatory bail by a court.
Vinay Mishra’s brother, Vikash, who was earlier arrested by ED, was named in the CBI charge sheet.
Last week, ED filed a petition at the Patiala court in Delhi, praying that Vinay Mishra be declared a fugitive economic offender.
TMC national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee was questioned by ED in Delhi twice earlier this year. Abhishek Banerjee’s wife, Rujira, her sister and the latter’s husband and father-in-law were also interrogated by CBI. Rujira Banerjee was questioned in Kolkata on June 23 by ED.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that money from the sale of smuggled coal was whitewashed through shell companies and siphoned into the funds of the ruling party. The BJP has alleged that the main beneficiary was Abhishek Banerjee.
Bengal BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said an operation of such scale could not continue without the patronage of politicians.
“The investigation has been going on for a long time. People of Bengal want to see it end soon. An operation of this scale could not continue without the patronage of politicians. They should be exposed,” said Bhattacharya.
TMC leaders did not comment on the charge sheet.
ED summoned Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak and TMC legislator from Purulia district’s Baghmundi constituency, Sushanta Mahato, for questioning at the agency’s Delhi office on July 15. Both skipped the interrogation. This was the third summons sent to Ghatak, the legislator from Asansol North constituency.
After the ECL officials were arrested, Abhishek Banerjee alleged last week that CBI and ED were being selective while spotting suspects.
“Why has (BJP leader) Suvendu Adhikari not yet been questioned by CBI in the Saradha chit fund case? Saradha’s owner Sudipta Sen has said on record that he gave a huge amount of money to Adhikari,” Banerjee said. Adhikari has dismissed the allegations against him.
