The Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigating the alleged pilferage of coal from mines in several districts of south Bengal has summoned Anup Majhi alias Lala, the key accused, for questioning to its headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday.
Senior officers of the central investigating agency said Majhi had been directed to appear before a team of interrogators at 11am.
The ED case of money laundering stems from a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore-rupee coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.
Majhi is believed to be the alleged kingpin of a coal mining and pilferage-linked money laundering case in Bengal. The ED has summoned the resident of Purulia district on several occasions in the past but he has evaded.
Senior officers said Majhi's immunity against arrest, offered by the Supreme Court, was gone and his questioning was required. Senior officers said Majhi's operation was spread over parts of Purulia, Bankura and West Burdwan districts and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
The investigators suspect over Rs 1,300 crore was illegally generated and the amount was reportedly distributed to several politicians, a few police officers and other influential personalities.
