A dozen sleuths of the Criminal Investigation Department led by deputy inspector general Ajay Thakur on Friday started a probe into complaints of coal smuggling lodged by Eastern Coalfields Limited with various police stations in West Burdwan.

The CID team on Friday reached the office of the general manager of ECL’s Kajora mining area in West Burdwan’s Andal and interacted with the officials. Later, they visited some open cast mines at Andal and some other places where illegal mining allegedly takes place.

“We have come here to probe the complaints lodged by ECL regarding coal smuggling and pilferage of national property. We have just begun our work,” Thakur said after speaking to the ECL officials in Kajora.

Sources said the CID had initially started investigating three complaints in the Kajora area in Andal police station limit out of the 33 lodged at various police stations in the coal belt.

“The complaints that we are now looking into had been pending for investigations for a long time. We will visit some more places, including the ECL headquarters, in phases during our investigations,” said a CID official.

However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been carrying out investigations into coal smuggling for the past two months in which an alleged coal kingpin Anup Maji alias Lala has been named as accused. The CBI has issued lookout notices for the two who are reportedly absconding.

Trinamul sources in West Burdwan said sending the CID team to investigate coal smuggling complaints was an attempt of the Mamata Banerjee government to turn the heat on the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls. The BJP has accused Trinamul of promoting illegal coal trade in the area.

“BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, are constantly blaming our party for shielding those involved in the coal smuggling racket in Bengal. The CBI is probing the racket but sending the CID to probe the same charges is an initiative to keep pressure on the central investigative agency,” said a Trinamul leader in Asansol.

Speaking in Calcutta on Friday, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said: “Coal smuggling has been going on for years. The state government did not bother to investigate the complaints in all these years. When the CBI is investigating the case, the decision of the state government to send its own investigating agency smacks of an attempt to shield the culprits. The move will create a constitutional crisis.”

Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had on Thursday spoken about the CID probe into coal smuggling and claimed that none involved in the crime would be spared.

Sources said the recent induction of a businessman Rajesh Jha alias Raju, who is facing charges of coal smuggling, and Sankha Biswas, a former police officer considered close to Jha, into the BJP had led Trinamul leaders in Durgapur to accuse the saffron camp of patronising those involved in pilferage of coal.

“Several complaints of coal smuggling, possessing illegal firearms, carrying fake currencies and cannabis are lodged at various police stations in the district against Raju Jha. He was inducted into the BJP recently and aspiring to contest the polls banking on his money and muscle power. The CID will obviously investigate the complaints against him and the truth will come out who is backing the criminals,” said Uttam Mukherjee, Trinamul leader in Durgapur.