Crackdown On Coal Mafia: ED Seizes Rs 10 Crores and 120 Land Deeds In West Bengal and Jharkhand

Cash and gold worth Rs 10 crores and 120 land deeds have been seized by the Enforcement Directorate in coordinated raids out in West Bengal and Jharkhand in money laundering investigations revolving around the coal mafia. Searches are still ongoing, and cash seizures could go up, said officials. On Friday morning the anti-money laundering federal probe agency launched coordinated searches at over 42 locations in West Bengal and Jharkhand. "The ED Ranchi Zonal Office conducted search operations across 18 locations in Jharkhand. These operations pertain to several major cases of coal theft and smuggling, covering the matters of Anil Goyal, Sanjay Udhyog, LB Singh, and Amar Mandal," said an official."The collective scale of the cases involves significant

coal pilferage and theft, resulting in a massive financial loss to the government estimated to be hundreds of crores," they added. At the same time, the Enforcement Directorate Kolkata Zonal Office raided 24 locations in Durgapur, Purulia, Kolkata, and Howrah. These searches revolved around money laundering investigations in illegal coal mining and illegal transportation and storage of coal cases."ED Kolkata searched the premises of Narendra Kharka, Anil Goyal, Yudhistir Ghosh, and Krishna Murari Kayal. On Friday ED carried out coordinated action at more than 40 premises against coal mafias in Jharkhand and West Bengal," said officials.More than 100 ED officials went on a raid at 6 am in West Bengal and Jharkhand. "Searches covered districts where cases of illegal transportation and storage of coal have been reported earlier. The premises covered include residential properties, offices, coke plants, and illegal toll collection booths, check posts, and nakas," said officials. Total seizure of cash and gold jewelry so far is more than Rs. 8 crores with respect to premises in West Bengal in search action in the coal mafia case. Cash of more than Rs 2.2 crore along with 120 land deeds has been recovered and seized from the premises in Jharkhand so far.