Kolkata, April 6 – The Calcutta High Court on Monday quashed a first information report (FIR) filed by the West Bengal Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a coal smuggling case, which the central agency was investigating.
The FIR was filed at the Bishnupur Police station in the Diamond Harbour Police District, in the South 24 Parganas district, in 2002. Among the CBI officials against whom the FIR was filed included senior CBI officer, Umesh Kumar.
In May 2022, the CBI's investigative team, led by Umesh Kumar, reached Bishnupur in connection with the central agency's investigation into the multi-crore coal smuggling case in West Bengal.
During the course of the investigation, the CBI sleuths also interacted with Haibar Akhan, a local leader of the Trinamool Congress. Subsequently, based on a complaint filed by Akhan, the FIR was lodged at the Bishnupur Police Station, and the investigation was handed over to the CID.
Cases were registered against the CBI officials under 13 sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Thereafter, the CBI approached the Calcutta High Court with a plea to quash the FIR registered against the agency's officials.
After a prolonged hearing in the matter for almost three years, the single-judge bench of Justice Uday Kumar pronounced the verdict, quashing the FIR registered against the CBI officials, including Umesh Kumar.
Umesh Kumar was the chief investigation officer in the coal smuggling case in West Bengal and led the CBI investigation into the case documents involving the syndicate of the principal accused in the matter, Anup Maji a.k.a. Lala, and his associates.
He and his team also interrogated officials of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), suspected of being involved in the matter, and other accused persons involved in the coal smuggling case after their arrests.
Umesh Kumar was responsible for framing the charges in the case and also oversaw the investigation in the case at a special CBI court in Asansol.