New Delhi, Nov 21 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted a massive coordinated raid at over 40 premises across Jharkhand and West Bengal as part of its crackdown on the illegal coal mining and smuggling nexus.
In a major operation, the ED’s Kolkata zone searched 24 locations in Durgapur, Purulia, Howrah and Kolkata districts in a case related to illegal coal mining, transportation and storage.
Simultaneously, the ED’s Ranchi zone carried out searches at 18 locations in Jharkhand. These operations are linked to several major coal theft and smuggling cases, including those involving entities such as Anil Goyal, Sanjay Udhyog, LB Singh, and Amar Mandal. The collective scale of the cases involves massive coal pilferage, causing a financial loss to the government estimated to run into hundreds of crores.
The action has led to significant seizures. “Total seizure of cash and gold/jewellery so far is more than Rs. 8 crores with respect to premises in West Bengal,” said an ED Official.
From the premises raided in Jharkhand, the agency reported the recovery of “cash of more than Rs. 2.2 crore along with 120 land deeds”.
The twin-state operation marks one of the largest actions against the alleged coal mafia in recent times.
