Bengal coal smuggling case: Special CBI court grants conditional bail to Anup Majhi (Ld)

Kolkata, May 14 (IANS) A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Asansol in West Bengal's West Burdwan district on Tuesday granted conditional bail to Anup Majhi a.k.a. Lala, the prime accused in the coal smuggling case.

Earlier in the day, the accused voluntarily surrendered in the court.

He was released on a personal bond of Rs 10,000. The special court also directed Lala to extend full cooperation to the CBI in the investigation process. The court also directed him to be physically present in the court during the next hearings.

The special court also directed him to reside only at his ancestral residence at Raghunathpur in the Purulia district, where his mother resides. He will also not leave the area without prior permission from the court.

The CBI is supposed to submit the charge sheet in the case on May 21, following which the trial process will start.

On Monday, the CBI officials faced the judge's ire for the approach they adopted during the course of the investigation.

The judge questioned why the central agency official did not approach the Supreme Court and oppose the latter's granting of “protection from arrest” to Lala three years ago.

Meanwhile, another prime accused in the coal smuggling case, Vinay Mishra, continued to remain absconding and as per the latest information available with central agencies, Mishra, a former youth Trinamool Congress leader, is hiding at Vanuatu Island and has also taken citizenship there.