The CBI has summoned Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on March 15 in connection with a probe into a ponzi case relating to ICore group of companies, and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s brother-in-law in connection with a separate case of alleged illegal coal mining from the Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in Asansol, officials said.
Besides being Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha is also a senior Minister in the State Government and considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He has been asked to appear before a CBI team on March 15, they said.
The CBI had registered the case against ICore group for allegedly raising over `3,000 crore from the common man by offering high returns and diverted a portion of these funds, defaulting on promised returns, they said.
The agency had taken over the probe into the matter in 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating.
The case was registered at the behest of the Supreme Court that had in 2014 directed the CBI to take over all cases related to chit fund companies.
Company directors Anukul Maity and his wife Kanika were arrested by the CBI in 2017. Maiti, a prime accused in the ICore E-Services scam, died at a Bhubaneswar hospital while under judicial custody.
The CBI has stepped up heat against politicians in poll-bound West Bengal as the agency has already questioned the family members of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the illegal coal mining case and summoned two more relatives on March 15 in the case, they said.
Husband of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s sister-in-law Ankush Arora and his father Pawan Arora have been asked to appear before the investigating officer of the case on March 15 in Kolkata, they said.
The agency had recently questioned Abhishek’s wife Rujira and sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir in the case relating to alleged illegal coal mining and pilferage from the ECL mines. The ECL is a public sector undertaking (PSU) of the Central Government.
The CBI probe has led to dubious financial transactions, leading to the questioning of Abhishek’s sister-in-law and her family members, the officials said.
The agency, during the questioning of various officials from West Bengal and the ECL, found out that as against the earlier claims of 500 tonnes, nearly 1,800 tonnes of stolen coal was found dumped near the railway siding in Asansol, which was meant to be gradually sold in the market by the prime accused Anup Manjhi and his cohorts.
The CBI probe has revealed that the ECL officials had detected that 1,800 tonnes of coal were illegally mined and stolen from the mines of the PSU, and reported the matter to the local authorities, but no concrete action was taken.
Abhishek Banerjee, the Lok Sabha member from the Diamond Harbour constituency and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, wields considerable influence in TMC.
The multi-crore-rupee coal-pilferage scam is related to the ECL mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas.
The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against Anup Manjhi alias Lala, the alleged kingpin of the pilferage racket, ECL general managers Amit Kumar Dhar and Jayesh Chandra Rai, ECL security chief Tanmay Das, Kunustoria area security inspector Dhananjay Rai and Kajor area security in-charge Debashish Mukherjee.
