Kolkata, February 10 The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two coal traders from West Bengal, after questioning them for several hours, as part of a money laundering investigation into a case of alleged illegal mining and transportation of coal, an officer said on Tuesday.
The arrests were made late on Monday, and one of the accused is suspected to be a close associate of a prime accused in the case, he said.
"The two were arrested after several rounds of questioning, during which our investigators detected multiple inconsistencies in their statements," the officer told PTI.
In recent weeks, the central probe agency has questioned several businessmen and carried out searches across multiple locations in the state, including Raniganj and Jamuria in Asansol, in connection with the case.
During the searches, investigators recovered nearly Rs 1.5 crore in cash from a warehouse located at the residence of a businessman in Jamuria, he said.
ED officials also conducted searches at the residence of the officer-in-charge of Budbud Police Station in Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate, Manoranjan Mondal.
He was subsequently summoned by the agency on Monday in connection with the case, though he reportedly did not appear before the investigators.
"The questioning of the two accused is expected to yield crucial information about the coal smuggling network and the trail of illicit proceeds," another officer said.
Earlier, the ED had conducted searches at the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata last month in connection with an older coal smuggling case.
ED Director Rahul Navin had recently held a series of high-level meetings with officials in Kolkata to review the progress of several major cases, including those related to coal and sand mining.