Kolkata, February 10: In a significant development in the coal smuggling case in West Bengal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has remanded two arrested coal traders, Kiran Khan and Chinmay Mandal, to ED custody until February 18. This decision was made by a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Kolkata.
Chinmay Mandal is reportedly Kiran Khan’s uncle, and both have been involved in the coal trade for an extended period. ED investigators discovered that the duo was illegally sourcing coal from the Asansol-Jamuria coal fields and selling it to various small factories, not only within West Bengal but also in neighboring states.
Sources indicate that they obtained illegal coal through two primary methods: first, by illicitly acquiring coal mined by various subsidiaries of Coal India Limited with the help of dubious officials and employees; second, by extracting coal from abandoned CIL mines in the region. This illegal mining has frequently resulted in land subsidence incidents, a major consequence of their activities.
Despite their primary business being illegal coal mining, both individuals have also ventured into sand mining and real estate in recent years.
ED officials reported that the two were arrested on Tuesday morning after a lengthy interrogation that began on Monday afternoon. They were subsequently presented before a special PMLA court, which ordered their custody until February 18.
Last month, ED Director Rahul Navin visited Kolkata to review the progress of investigations into high-profile financial irregularities in the state, including the coal smuggling case. During this period, raids and searches were conducted at the offices and residences of coal traders in Asansol and Jamuria, resulting in the recovery of ₹1.5 crore from the home of a coal trader in Jamuria.