CBI Raids Bengal Law Minister In Coal Scam Case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a charge sheet in July this year.

New Delhi:

Central probe agency CBI is conducting searches at the premises of West Bengal Minister Moloy Ghatak in the alleged coal pilferage case, officials have said.

CBI officers conducted raids at three houses of Mr Ghatak in Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district and one in Lake Gardens area of Kolkata.

The agency, aided by a huge contingent of central paramilitary personnel, conducted searches in these properties in connection with the scam. Women officers were also part of the team.

The agency also conducted searches at four different places in Kolkata in connection with the scam. Incidentally, Mr Ghatak, the Asansol Uttar MLA, has appeared once before Enforcement Directorate officers at its Delhi office for questioning in connection with the coal pilferage case.

He, however, has skipped several other summonses of the ED in connection with the alleged scam.

“As his name surfaced in the coal smuggling scam, we need to find out what was his role in it. We have evidence of Ghatak’s involvement in the scam,” a CBI officer told news agency PTI.

Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the National General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, was also questioned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Kolkata for almost eight hours as part of the probe recently. He had launched a scathing attack on Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP right after his questioning, accusing the Centre of misusing central agencies for political gains.

“BJP claims that the leader of another party is a ‘Pappu‘. But in reality, Amit Shah himself is the biggest ‘Pappu‘. He just cannot do politics without using (Central) agencies,” he had said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a charge sheet in July this year against 41 persons involved in the coal scam, though Mr Banerjee was not named in it.

Responding to the summons against Mr Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress had called it “vendetta politics”.

The ED is pursuing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Anup Majee, the alleged kingpin of a coal mining and pilferage-linked money laundering case related to Eastern Coalfield Limited’s mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.

Assets worth more than Rs 15 crore of two close associates of Mr Majee were attached in July.