Kiran Khan and Chinmay Monday, prominent coal traders, were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in West Bengal for their involvement in a multi-crore coal smuggling case. They have been remanded to ED custody until February 18 by a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata. Khan is the nephew of Mondal, and both have a history of coal trading activities.
Sources familiar with the case revealed that Khan and Mondal were illegally procuring coal from the coal mines in Asansol-Jamuria and supplying it to small factories in West Bengal and neighboring states. They used various channels for this illegal procurement, including coal excavated by subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL) with the help of unscrupulous officials.
Apart from this, they also engaged in procuring coal from abandoned mines of CIL in the region, known for illegal mining activities leading to land subsidence. Despite primarily focusing on illegal coal mining, the duo has also been involved in sand mining and real estate businesses in recent years.
Following extensive interrogation, both Mondal and Khan were arrested and brought before the PMLA court for custody extension. The ED’s Director had visited Kolkata last month to review progress on financial irregularities cases, including coal smuggling investigations. Additionally, ED officials had conducted raids in West Burdwan districts, seizing Rs 1.50 crore from a coal trader’s residence in Jamuria.
