Bengal coal smuggling case

Kolkata, Aug 12 (IANS) The assets of some of the eight Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and five Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers from West Bengal, who have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to New Delhi for questioning in the coal smuggling case, are under the scanner of the central agency.

ED sources said that these officers have been summoned as their names surfaced during the various phases of interrogation of the coal smuggling kingpin, Anup Majhi alias Lala, who is currently in the ED custody. All these IAS and IPS officers have been asked to reach the ED headquarter in New Delhi on different dates from August 21 to August 31.

The sources said that some of the bureaucrats and police officers will be questioned about their assets and would be asked to specify the source of income for the purchase of such assets.

One of the important IPS officers summoned by the ED in this connection is the additional director general of criminal investigation department (CID) and special task force (STF) of the state police, Gyanwant Singh, who will face the second round of questioning by the central agency sleuths in this connection.

ED sources said that Singh was questioned first when the coal smuggling case had broken out. As the erstwhile additional director general (law & order) of the state police, did he receive any report from the range deputy inspector general and district police superintendents in this matter.

The probable question for Rajeev Mishra, the additional director general of state intelligence branch, would be whether there was no intelligence input on the coal smuggling in the matter. Sukesh Kumar Jain, currently the deputy inspector general of the traffic division, would be asked about how the traffic department was totally unaware of the smuggled coal being transported by trucks through the national highways.

The ED has already questioned Trinamool Congress's national general secretary and party MP, Abhishek Banerjee (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew), as well as his wife Rujira in connection to the case.

A Thailand-based bank account, purportedly held by Rujira, is currently under the ED scanner.