ED issues summons to Bengal law minister in coal smuggling case

File photo West Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak. (Photo: Facebook/Moloy Ghatak MLA)

By Rajesh Saha: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) issued a summons to West Bengal's Law Minister Moloy Ghatak and asked him to appear before the agency's headquarters on March 29. The summons pertains to the coal smuggling case under the probe agency.

An ED source claimed that his personal assistant had also been summoned by the central agency for questioning. He has been asked to appear on March 23. Moloy Ghatak was summoned by the central probe agency in a coal smuggling case previously too and he had appeared before ED sleuths in Delhi.

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Moloy Ghatak was questioned and his statement was recorded. The Bengal law minister hails from Asansol, which is known as the coal area in Bengal. He is an elected MLA of Asansol North.

His name has appeared during the probe by the ED and the CBI. Both agencies have been examining his alleged role in the coal smuggling case. CBI questioned him once in his residence in Kolkata.

The ED previously conducted raids on his residence in Asansol, following which, Moloy Ghatak conducted a press conference and claimed that he was not involved in the alleged smuggling case in any way, rather he was a victim of political vendetta by the BJP.