Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served notices on 8 senior IPS officers of West Bengal in an alleged coal smuggling case. These officers have been asked to appear before the central agency individually for questioning in New Delhi.
The IPS officers are Gyanwant Singh, Additional Director General (ADG), Special Task Force, Rajeev Mishra, ADG & Inspector General (IG), Intelligence Branch, Sukesh Jain, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Traffic, Bhashkar Mukherjee, Superintendent of Police (SP), Sundarban Police District, Tathagatha Basu, SP, WB Police Recruitment Board, Shyam Singh, DIG, Civil Defence, Koteswara Rao Nalavath, SP (HQ), Anti-Corruption Branch, and S. Selvamurugan, SP, Purulia.
These IPS officers have been given individual dates between 22 and 31 August to join the investigation. All 8 have been posted in districts where coal was allegedly smuggled from or transported through.
Seven out of the 8 officers have been questioned earlier as well.
While the state opposition has alleged the involvement of more police officers in the case and spoken of a suspected police-Trinamool “nexus”, the state’s ruling party has announced state-wide protests Friday claiming that central agencies ED and CBI are targeting opposition-led states.
What is the coal smuggling scam?
The suspected coal smuggling scam relates to allegations of illegal mining and transportation of coal from the central government-run Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) in West Bengal to various parts of western India.
The ED and the CBI filed FIRs in 2020 to investigate the alleged Rs 1,900 crore scam.
The two agencies have interrogated powerful leaders as part of the probe, including Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira Banerjee, and West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak. Senior West Bengal Police officers and ECL officials have been questioned as well.
CBI sources told ThePrint that at least 24 police officers and two district magistrates are on their “suspect” list. The prime accused in the case, Anup Maji, is said to be on the run.
The ED and the CBI have arrested former TMC leader Vinay Mishra’s brother Vikas Mishra for his alleged involvement. Last month, the ED attached two properties of Vinay and Vikas worth Rs 13.6 crore as part of the investigation.
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‘More IPS officers involved,’ says opposition
BJP member and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari, while speaking to the media, said, “Eight IPS officers have been called by ED in Delhi. There are more IPS officers who are involved and should be investigated. I hope they are all charged and given strict punishment for their involvement in such a big scam.”
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty told ThePrint that “there is a deep nexus between TMC leaders and police officers in West Bengal”.
“Police officers would make a green corridor for illegal coal to be transported. The instructions would come from higher-ups. The ED has evidence and that is why these officers are being called. If they are innocent, then they won’t be arrested, but only time will tell that,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress, while announcing state-wide protests Friday at 3 pm, said the ED and the CBI are only going after opposition-led states.
State Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “The Assam CM is involved in various irregularities. He was also named in the Jharkhand MLA cash haul, but no ED or CBI probe was ordered. The agencies are functioning in a partial manner.”
(Edited by Siddarth Muralidharan)
Also Read: Behind Bengal’s Rs 1,900-cr ‘coal scam’ story is Class 8 dropout who began as ‘petty coal thief’