ED summons 8 West Bengal IPS officers in coal smuggling scam

Kolkata: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday summoned eight West Bengal IPS officers in connection with the coal smuggling scam.

According to ED sources, the summoned officers have been asked to be present at the ED headquarters in the national capital and will be quizzed individually.

Among the IPS officers summoned by the central agency are Gyanwant Singh (ADG, CID), Koteswara Rao, S Selvamurugan, Shyam Singh, Rajeev Mishra, Sukesh Kumar Jain, and Tathagata Basu.

According ED sources, these officers were posted at places where the scam happened.

“The questioning of these officers will take place between August 21 to August 31. These officers were deputed in the areas where illegal coal mining and smuggling took place. There is evidence that these officers are benefitted from the scam,” said ED sources.

The ED sources also mentioned that few police officers are also involved in the scam and allegedly transported cash in official vehicles.

It may be noted that in November 2020, CBI had registered a case of coal smuggling scam and the sleuths have also quizzed TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira and others in connection with this scam.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the officers and police involved in the scam should be ‘punished’.

“Many police and government officials are also involved in the scam and helped to further the scams in many ways. They should be punished,” mentioned Adhikari.

Published on: Thursday, August 11, 2022, 08:36 PM IST