KOLKATA: The CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at the premises of West Bengal Law Minister Malay Ghatak in connection with its probe into alleged coal pilferage from Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in Asansol.
The CBI sleuths conducted the raids for five hours at Ghatak’s three residences in Kolkata’s Lake Gardens. Similarly, the search was carried out for nearly six hours at his three houses in Asansol. Besides, the central agency questioned Ghatak in a guest house for four hours.
In connection with a money laundering case linked to coal pilferage, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on four occasions.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the coal pilferage scam, summoned and asked him to appear before the agency’s officials in Delhi on September 14.
“Ghatak’s name was mentioned in a diary of Anup Majhi, a suspect has been was arrested earlier. In the diary, transaction records of several crores were mentioned against Ghatak’s name. We have seized several documents from Ghatak’s houses,’’ said a CBI official.
Earlier, the law minister had appeared before the ED in Delhi. The MLA from Asansol North constituency, however, skipped several summons issued by the ED in connection with the coal smuggling case involving Rs 1,900 crore.
Accompanied by the personnel of central force, the CBI officers engaged an expert to open locker in one of Ghatak’s houses.
“We recovered documents related to Ghatak’s bank accounts and financial transactions. During the course of questioning, the minister denied his link with Majhi. But we have enough evidence to establish that there was financial transaction between the two,’’ said another officer of the central agency.
Ghatak described the CBI’s act was a plot to malign his image.
“This is a conspiracy of the BJP-led central government. The central agency has no evidence to frame me. This is to malign my image,’’ he said.
Ghatak said the CBI seized his three cellphones, a number of SIM cards and documents related to his Assembly account.
Carrying posters and placards against the CBI and ED, the TMC activists marched along Chittaranjan Avenue to Mayo Road in central Kolkata.
TMC leaders claimed that when the economy has gone for a toss, the central government is using its agencies to settle "political scores".
On Wednesday, the CBI raided houses of Ghatak in connection with its probe into a coal smuggling scam, even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned him to New Delhi for questioning next week.
"The central investigative agencies had been relentlessly targeting BJP's critics and opposition under the BJP-led government with raids. The BJP has politicised central agencies," senior TMC leader and minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said.
Meanwhile, the dharna of the TMC's women wing in the city in protest against releasing 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case entered its second day.
The women activists carrying posters and placards against the BJP government demanded that the culprits be put behind bars.
All the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rape and murder of seven members of her family walked out of Godhra sub-jail last month after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
TMC leaders condemned the Centre for its alleged lax attitude in dealing with the safety and security of women, including the recent rape of a woman by Border Security Force personnel at Bagda in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district.
(With PTI Inputs)