Moloy Ghatak under CBI scanner following raids in connection with multi-crore coal pilferage scam

Senior Trinamool minister Moloy Ghatak is under the Central Bureau of Investigations(CBI) scanner, with the central agency conducting raids at several houses of West Bengal Law Minister on Tuesday in Asansol and Kolkata on Wednesday in connection with multi-crore coal pilferage scam.

Sources said CBI officials went to Ghatak’s residences, in both Kolkata and Asansol, amid CRPF personnel’s presence outside. Ghatak was reportedly quizzed at his government residential quarters near Raj Bhawan in Kolkata from the morning. The raid and quizzing continued for several hours, sources said.

The raid in Moloy Ghatak’s residence comes as a blow to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee government as Ghatak is the state Law Minister and a senior leader who has immense control over the organization in Asansol region, especially after the recent arrests of former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and Birbhum District President Anubrata Mondal.

Trinamool Congress heavyweight leaders in the Asansol coal belt is known for his organizational skills and dominance in the region. Ghatak, who is a third-generation advocate used to practice at Asansol court, and ventured into politics in 2001, getting elected on a Trinamool ticket from the former Hirapur Assembly constituency in the undivided Bardhaman district.
The CBI searched the minister’s three homes in Asansol, including his ancestral home, homes in Kolkata and a government apartment in Kolkata in connection with the alleged coal pilferage scam.

Prior to this, Ghatak has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioning multiple times.

In November 2020, the CBI had registered a case alleging multi-crore coal pilferage in Eastern Coalfields mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas. The ED had lodged a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, based on the November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI.

Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was quizzed several times by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the coal smuggling scam.