Illegal mining & theft of coal case: CBI raids 45 locations, 1 coal official dies during op

New Delhi/Kolkata: The CBI on Saturday carried out a massive search operation at 45 locations in four states, including Bengal, after registering a case against alleged coal pilferer Anup Manjhi who was suspected to be acting in collusion with two general managers and three security personnel of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), officials said.

Besides Bengal, the searches were spread across Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, official said.

A security officer of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), meanwhile, died during the search operation conducted by the CBI. The deceased identified as Dhananjay Rai was the Area Security Inspector of ECL in Kunustoria area of Raiganj.

After a preliminary inquiry before registering an FIR, CBI had found involvement of several ECL officials and another person identified as Anup Majhi alias Lala who is reportedly the main organiser of illegal mining of coal and steal coal from ECL areas.

On Saturday, CBI conducted raid at Majhi's house in Salt Lake. However, Majhi is absconding since CBI started inquiry about the stealing of coal. Searches were also conducted at Asansol and Theatre Road in Kolkata.

The CBI registered the case on Friday against Manjhi, ECL General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar (of the then Kunustoria area now Pandaveswar area) and Jayesh Chandra Rai (Kajor area) besides ECL Chief of Security Tanmay Das, Area Security Inspector, Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai and SSI and security in-charge Kajor area Debashish Mukherjee.

During the searches, the agency recovered Rs 40 lakh cash, documents, electronic devices and instruments of financial transactions, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation acted on information from "reliable sources" indicating illegal excavation and theft of coal in the leasehold area of ECL in "connivance" with the officials of ECL, CISF and Railways.

The vigilance department of the ECL and its Task Force had also noticed illegal mining from May 2020 and onwards with the help of large excavation machines and vehicles for transportation that were seized by the team.

"Several instances of installation of illegal weighbridges in concrete form were also detected which confirms illegal coal mining and transportation from ECL areas in an organised manner at a very large scale.

"It is further revealed by the source that illegal mining is going on at the leasehold area of ECL behind Topsi village under Kunustoria Area and at Lachhipur Village under Kajora Area by the coal mafias in active connivance with officials of ECL and those of CISF," the CBI alleged in its FIR.

The departmental raids on August 7, 2020 led to the recovery of over nine MT of stolen coal from the Railway siding of the Pandaveswar area. Similar recoveries were also made from other locations.

"It is learnt that this illegal activity is being run at Railway sidings by the criminals with the active connivance of unknown Railway officials," the agency alleged.

The CBI has alleged Anup Manjhi alias Lala is the kingpin of most of the coal pilferage in the area arising out of illegal mining.

The Standard Operating Procedure for Action Plan Illegal Mining and coal theft of CIL dated August 08, 2020, issued a day after raids by ECL teams, stated that the main role of all the raids and actions to be taken is of the Area Security Officer, Area Security In-Charge, Area Authorities under the respective Chief of Security ECL and Area General Managers".

It appears that illegal coal mining in the ECL leasehold area is going on along with theft of coal from Railway sidings in an organised manner, the CBI said.

It alleged that the accused officials and security officers of ECL and CISF, in connivance with unidentified Railways officials, allowed Anup Maji alias Lala to misappropriate the national property entrusted to them, committing criminal breach of trust.