Three police officers, including an office in charge (OC)-ranked officer, were summoned on Thursday, said sources, while four officers had been summoned on Tuesday. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police has summoned 10 state police officers to Bhavani Bhavan to interrogate them about their alleged role in the coal smuggling case, said police sources. The interrogation will last for three days, they said.
The summoned police officers were posted in the mining area of Asansol from 2019 to 2021 when the alleged coal smuggling scam took place, said sources.
Three police officers, including an office in charge (OC)-ranked officer, were summoned on Thursday, said sources, while four officers had been summoned on Tuesday.
Sources said the CID wanted to know how coal was smuggled and about the police officers’ role, etc. Besides the CBI, the CID is also conducting a separate probe into the alleged coal smuggling.
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In early August, businessman Sanjay Malik was arrested in a raid at a farmhouse in Haryana and was brought to Kolkata on a three-day transit remand. An Asansol court remanded him to CID custody for 12 days. A few days earlier, CID had arrested Abdul Barik Biswas, a notorious smuggler active in Basirhat. According to sources, the whereabouts of Malik were found during the interrogation of Abdul Barik Biswas.The CBI, on the other hand, had in July arrested ECL’s former general manager Subhash Mukhopadhyay. Thereafter, eight ECL officials were arrested by the CBI in this connection on the charges of taking money from the coal mafia, said sources.