The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the coal pilferage scam, Wednesday summoned Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak and asked him to appear before the agency's officials in Delhi on September 14, ED sources here said.

The summons were sent on a day CBI searched five houses belonging to the minister - three in Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district and two in Kolkata, including his official residence near the Raj Bhavan, in connection with the multi-crore coal scam in which he is allegedly involved. The CBI also conducted searches at the residence of one of Ghatak's close associates in Alipore area of the city and another in Diamond Harbour in neighbouring South 24 Parganas district.

Ghatak, a lawmaker from Uttar Asansol constituency, is allegedly involved in the coal pilferage scam in the Eastern Coalfields mines in Kunustoria and Kajora areas of Asansol.

He was not present in any of his residences when the raids took place.

The ED had filed a money laundering case against Ghatak, who has already been interrogated once by the agency at its Delhi office, based on a FIR issued by CBI in November 2020.

He has skipped several other summons of the ED in the coal pilferage scam.