Written and edited by Anjani Kumar
Mamta Bannerjee Government in West Bengal is in a thick of controversies these days. Recently, one of her ministers named Partha Chatterjee was arrested for his involvement in school teachers’ recruitment scam in the state in which crores of rupees were unearthed during Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the property of actor and model Arpita Mukherjee who is said to be a close aide of Chatterjee.
In an another similar drive against the corrupt elements and ministers in West Bengal , Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday raided the residence of West Bengal Law Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Ghatak Moloy in Asansol in connection with the alleged coal scam case.
Meanwhile, as per reports coming from Kolkata it is learnt that that the top investigating agency of the country is also carrying out searche operations at his several locations in the city .
It should be learnt that Moloy’s residence was raided days after, Trinamool national general secretary and nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjeee, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi in an alleged case of coal scam .
The probe agency had has also questioned his wife Rujira Narula Banerjee, her sister and her brother-in-law in this connection.
Meanwhile, while remaining undettered by these raids , Moloy went on to dare Union Home Minister Amit Shah to prove charges of his wrongdoing and to put him behind bars as he said, “If needed, I am ready to face questioning 30 times, but will not bow my head before the BJP. I have attacked his (Amit Shah’s) son over the national flag issue but that does not mean the ED and CBI can be used to threaten me,”
It is said that the West Bengal Law Minister has several houses in Asansol and Kolkata. Meanwhile, CBI is conducting searches in at least his six premises . Women officers were also part of the team.
“As his name surfaced in the coal smuggling scam, we need to find out what was his role in it. We have evidence of Ghatak’s involvement in the scam,” a CBI officer told a news agency .
However, Ghatak was not present at any of his residences when these raids took place. The CBI officials took away mobile phones from his family members and made them to sit in one room in his Asansol houses.
The agency also conducted searches at four different places in Kolkata in connection with the scam.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the alleged money laundering aspect of the case, while the CBI is investigating into the criminal angle of it.
The ongoing probe is conncted with an FIR filed by the CBI in 2020 in the multi-crore rupees coal pilferage scam.
CBI had filed its first charge sheet in the Bengal coal smuggling case against 41 people which included Anup Majhi, alias Lala, who is said to be an alleged kingpin of the operation, along with former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra among others.
After the ED in July summoned TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for questioning in connection with the case last week , Ghatak was also asked to come to Enfocement Directorate loacted in New Delhi .
During these actions which are being carried by both the ED and CBI , two heavyweights of TMC Partha Chatterjee and Anubrta have alredy been arrested earlier.
While the ED arrested Chatterjee in the alleged School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, Mondal was arrested by the CBI in an alleged ‘cattle smuggling’ case
