A single bench of the Calcutta High Court recently ruled out parallel investigations by two agencies in one case, with Judge Rajsekhar Mantha questioning the possibility of dual probe for the same crime.
The court was confronted with the question in the case of BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari who was summoned by the CID in the coal smuggling case.
“In view of the above, this court is of the prima facie view that allowing the CID, West Bengal, to investigate further into the coal scam would not only amount a second parallel investigation but would also prejudice the investigation already conducted by the CBI. The investigation into the FIR No. 66 of 2020 of Andal Police Station, in so far as the petitioners are concerned, is therefore, stayed,” the court noted.
In the last three months, the CID has been aggressively investigating the cattle smuggling and coal smuggling cases. In the context of duality of probe, it is interesting to note that two years ago, a case was registered in Park Street police station against Amir Khan, the promoter of a fake gaming app named ‘E-Nuggets’, but no action was taken. It was only after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered Rs 18 crore from Khan’s residence that Kolkata Police arrested him from Ghaziabad.
In Bengal, there are two cases being probed by both CID and CBI:
Coal Case
In 2020, Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) got FIRs lodged against illegal coal smuggling. The FIR was taken up by CID after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an inquiry into the cases before the 2021 assembly elections. Now, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as ED are also probing the case.
What did CBI & ED do?
The CBI registered an FIR in November 2020 against Anup Majhi alias Lala, known to be the kingpin of an extensive illegal coal smuggling business; General Manager Amit Kumar; Jayesh Chandra Rai; and ECL security chief Tanmoy Das.
Sources in the CBI and ED say Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra, against whom a lookout notice has been issued, is involved in the case. Vikash Mishra, Vinay’s brother, was first arrested by the ED but granted bail on health grounds. He was later arrested by the CBI.
In July 2022, 41 people were named in the chargesheet and 14 arrest warrants issued. ECL’s former general manager Subhas Mukhopadhyay and seven other officers were arrested. Both agencies have also interrogated senior IPS officers in the case.
The six residences of law minister Moloy Ghatak, who was also grilled in the case, were also raided. The ED also questioned TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira and sister-in-law Menoka Gambhir.
What did CID do?
The state CID has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. It also recovered illegal coal in some trucks from Paschim Jamuria. Mishbah ul Haque, a local businessman was arrested and during interrogation, the name of other businessmen also cropped up. From Basirhat, Abdul Barik Biswas — whom police sources identified as a notorious smuggler — was arrested.
The CID also interrogated 10 local police personnel who were posted in the coal belt since 2018 and summoned more who were on duty in the mining area of Asansol from 2019 to 2021 when the alleged scam took place, said sources.
It had also summoned Jitendra Tiwari and three other leaders after which the court had questioned the need for two agencies to probe the same crime.
Cattle Smuggling Case
What did CBI do?
CBI registered a cattle smuggling case in September 2021 against BSF Commandant Satish Kumar. Another name doing the rounds in the case was of alleged kingping Enamul Haque, who was also arrested. On interrogation, sources said the agencies got solid leads after which Vikas Mishra and Sehgal Hussain (bodyguard of TMC heavyweight and Birbhum chief Anubrata Mondal) were arrested.
Sources in the CBI said interrogating Sehgal and raiding his various properties revealed evidence about Mondal, who was arrested in August 2022 as he was not cooperating with the agency. The CBI has filed a chargesheet and three supplementary chargesheet in the case.
What did the CID do?
Here too, the CID acted on an FIR filed by the local police station. Last week, the CID issued an arrest warrant against Haque and it has now got permission to question him in Tihar jail.
The CID has also issued a warrant against Humayun Kabir; Mehedi Hussain; and Jahangir Alam, Haque’s nephew. A few days ago, the CID raided the offices of the accused and served them notices.
The issue has also turned political, with the BJP and TMC indulging in a war of words.
Dilip Ghosh, BJP vice-president, said: “Why is CID suddenly calling BJP leaders? They want to disturb the CBI investigation which is taking place as per law.”
Responding to the accusation, senior TMC leader Tapas Roy said: “We are not the BJP that we direct the agency to investigate. They will do their job. They have arrested people in the coal case. The BJP itself uses the CBI and that’s why they feel this way.”
Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty, while commenting on the debate, said: “The question arises why Amir, the mastermind of the fake gaming app, was not arrested in the last one-and-a-half years? Why is the CID active now? The government will have to answer because the case may be politically highlighted.”
In the race between the CID and CBI, a PIL was filed by a lawyer in the high court, saying probe by CID in the cattle case was hampering CBI’s case. “Further allegation is that since powerful personnel close to the ruling party in the State are involved in the cattle smuggling case, therefore, the State is now trying to interfere in the investigation by the CBI, taking advantage of overlapping of the investigation by the State.”
In response, the court said: “We are of the opinion that till the respective stand of the parties comes on record in the form of affidavit, it would not be proper to permit the State investigating agency to enter into the field in which the central investigating agency is already investigating. Hence, we direct that the State investigating agency on the plea of investigating the offences relating to RC Case No. 19 of 2020 will not enter into the subject matter and connected field of investigation being conducted by the CBI in the FIR being RC 0102020A0019 and will ensure unhampered investigation by CBI.”
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment