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CBI raids premises of Bengal law minister over coal smuggling case
The CBI on Wednesday interrogated West Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak and conducted searches at his premises in connection with its probe into alleged coal pilferage from Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in Asansol.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday interrogated West Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak and conducted searches at his premises in connection with its probe into alleged coal pilferage from Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in Asansol, officials said.
Ghatak, who was quizzed for several hours, termed the CBI move an attempt “to tarnish his image”.
Searches were conducted in at least eight premises linked to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister in Kolkata and Asansol, a senior CBI official said on condition of anonymity. The house of the minister’s chartered accountant in Kolkata was also raided, the official added.
The raids at Ghatak’s premises were conducted weeks after senior TMC leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal were arrested by the central agencies.
“The CBI did not summon me. Suddenly in the morning they came to search my house. This is nothing but to tarnish my image. I am the law minister and there are important files in my house. They went through all the files,” Ghatak told reporters later in the day.
“The Enforcement Directorate (which is also probing the case) had summoned me earlier but since it was just ahead of the elections in Asansol, I skipped them. I had sent all the documents which the agency wanted. I will definitely cooperate if they summon me again,” he added.
While an ED official said Ghatak has been summoned again on September 14, the minister said he has not received any such summons from the agency.
The CBI had registered its FIR in the case in 2020. It is alleged that illegally-mined coal, worth thousands of crores of rupees, were sold in a purported racket in the western parts of the state where the Eastern Coalfields Limited runs several mines. The proceeds of the crime allegedly went to political leaders.
The ED filed a money laundering case against Ghatak based on the CBI’s FIR.
Earlier, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, Abhishek, and his wife Rujira, were questioned by the ED.
