E-Paper
Coal smuggling case: WB law minister, legislator evade ED questioning in Delhi
It is alleged that illegally mined coal, worth several thousands of crores of rupees, were sold in the black market over several years by a racket operating in the western parts of West Bengal
A day after being issued notices in connection with the coal smuggling case, officials in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that West Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak and Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator from Purulia’s Baghmundi constituency Sushanta Mahato did not turn up at the central agency’s Delhi office on Friday for questioning.
The two TMC leaders received the summons on Thursday, less than 12 hours after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which started the probe in 2020, arrested two former Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) general managers and five other company employees in Kolkata on Wednesday night.
This is the first time the CBI has arrested central government officials in connection with the case.
Mahato sent the ED an email stating that he was ‘too preoccupied to travel to Delhi’, but will meet the agency’s officials in Kolkata if they wished so. However, ED officials said that there was no communication from Ghatak till Friday afternoon.
Also Read:CBI arrests 7 Eastern Coalfields staff for involvement in smuggling case
None of the TMC leaders could be contacted despite several attempts.
While Mahato, 40, was summoned for the first time, 66-year-old Ghatak, the legislator from Asansol North in West Burdwan district, was called to Delhi twice in the past. On both occasions, he cited the risk of travelling due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is alleged that illegally mined coal, worth several thousands of crores of rupees, were sold in the black market over several years by a racket operating in the western parts of West Bengal where ECL, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited owned by the Union coal ministry, runs several mines.
It is suspected that proceeds from the illegal mining and smuggling of coal were received by TMC leaders and a section of officials in ECL, Central Industrial Security Force (which guards the mines), the railways and West Bengal Police.
TMC national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek was questioned by the ED in Delhi twice earlier this year in connection with the case. Abhishek’s wife Rujira, her sister and the latter’s husband and father-in-law were also interrogated by the CBI. Rujira was last questioned in Kolkata on June 23 by the ED.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that money from the sale of smuggled coal was whitewashed through shell companies and siphoned off into the funds of the ruling party. The BJP also alleged that the main beneficiary is Abhishek Banerjee.
Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said that the CBI and ED were being selective while arresting people.
“Why has (BJP leader) Suvendu Adhikari not yet been questioned or arrested by the 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,” the TMC MP claimed.
Adhikari has time and again dismissed this allegation. “None of those who received money from the coal smuggling operation can escape the agencies,” Adhikari said on Friday while commenting on the CBI and ED operations.
