ED forensic scan on coal trader’s broken phone
Kolkata: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent the mobile phone of a coal trader, Kiran Khan, for forensic examination, which he broke during the raid by the central agency a few days ago.
On February 3, ED, accompanied by Central Force jawans, conducted searches at multiple locations across West Bengal in connection with its ongoing investigation into alleged coal and sand smuggling. During the raids, officials of the Central agency reportedly seized a large sum of cash from an Asansol-based businessman. According to sources, teams of ED officials began searches early in the day, including at the residence of Manoranjan Mondal, the officer-in-charge of Budbud police station.
After a few days of the raid, ED had summoned Manoranjan along with two coal traders Kiran and his uncle Chinmoy Mondal, for interrogation. On February 10, Mondal and Kiran appeared before the ED officials, following which they were grilled for hours. At night, Chinmoy and Kiran were arrested by the ED officials on the ground of non cooperation and several ambiguity in their statements.
It is alleged that both of them used to work closely with the coal scam kingpin Anup Majhi alias Lala and maintained a network of compromised local officials. The ED had also seized the mobile phone of Kiran, which he deliberately broke to destroy electronic evidence during the raid on February 3. After producing them at the Special Court in Bichar Bhavan, the duo was remanded to ED custody till February 18. On Wednesday, after producing Chinmoy and Kiran, ED informed the court that the broken mobile phone had been sent to the forensic lab to retrieve the data.
Though the central agency appealed for Chinmoy’s custody to be extended, for Kiran, the ED appealed for his judicial remand. After the hearing, the court remanded Chinmoy to ED custody till February 20, while Kiran was remanded to judicial custody till February 24. ED is likely to appeal for his custody again after receiving the forensic report of the broken mobile phone.
