Probe Agency's 2-State, 42-Location Crackdown In Illegal Coal Mining Case

The Enforcement Directorate simultaneously raided 42 locations across Bengal and Jharkhand Friday morning in connection with the illegal mining, transportation, and storage of coal.

The raids, carried out by over 100 ED officers and which began at 6 am, are still going on.

The probe agency's Kolkata office searched 24 premises in the Durgapur, Purulia, and Howrah districts, and in the state capital. The ED's Ranchi office raided 18 across the neighbouring state. In both cases raids were carried out at homes, offices, coke plants, and illegal toll booths.

Agency officials, who were accompanied by armed central forces for protection, did not confirm links between the persons whose properties were raided and the case, though reports said one of the Bengal locations was the home and office of a contractor working at the Asansol office of Bharat Coking Coal Limited, which is subsidiary of Coal India Limited.

However, photographs showed fistfuls of jewellery and piles of notes had been recovered.

One from Bengal showed over 30 wads of Rs 500 notes bundled into a suitcase. Each seemed to have between 400 and 500 notes, or Rs 2 lakh, meaning the total amount was possibly nearly Rs 70 lakh.

A second, also from Bengal, showed similar bundles stuffed into a duffle bag. Again, there seemed to be 13 piles of Rs 500 notes adding to nearly Rs 30 lakh.

In addition, at least eight large boxes of heavy gold jewellery and as many smaller boxes were seized. Some silver jewellery, including an ornate necklace, was also recovered.

Photographs from the raids in Ranchi showed similarly obscene amounts of money; one photograph showed over 30 stacks of Rs 500 notes amounting to at least Rs 85 lakh, and another showed piles of Rs 500 and Rs 200 notes adding up to more than Rs 50 lakh.

Bengal's coal fields are spread across the Birbhum, Purulia, Paschim Bardhman, and Bankura districts. In 2020 the Eastern Coafields Ltd filed its first complaint against illegal coal theft; a total of 597 were filed and 28 people were arrested in investigations between 2020 and 2021.

The probe agency's actions will almost certainly ramp up tension between Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of elections next year.