The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned eight senior police officers of West Bengal to New Delhi for questioning in the coal smuggling case, officials said on Thursday.

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

The IPS officers have been given specific dates to appear before the ED at its New Delhi office, they added, reports PTI.

"These IPS officers played crucial roles in the coal smuggling case. There is evidence that these officers benefited from the scam. All of them were posted in areas where the smuggling happened," the ED official said.

Seven of these eight officers were summoned by the ED last year as well.