ED arrests realtors for 'links' to coal smuggling in Asansol–Durgapur
Telegraph | 11 February 2026
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested two real estate developers with alleged links to a coal smuggling syndicate in Asansol and Durgapur following their contradictory statements during interrogations.
The two businessmen, Chinmoy Mondal and his nephew Kiran Khan, along with a sub-inspector of police, Monoranjan Mondal, were summoned for interrogation at the CGO complex in Calcutta on Monday.
Chinmoy and Kiran turned up for interrogations, but the police officer didn’t.
Sources in the ED said Monoranjan, who was recently posted as the officer-in-charge at the Budbud police station, has been avoiding interrogations despite repeated summonses since February 3. Monoranjan had previously been posted at the special branch.
However, in another order issued on Tuesday, Monoranjan’s posting as the OC at Budbud was cancelled and he was sent back to his previous post at the special branch.
The ED sources said Monoranjan was allegedly running a coal smuggling syndicate in connivance with Chinmoy and some senior police officers in Asansol and Durgapur between 2023 and 2025. Earlier this month, the ED raided Monoranjan’s residence in Durgapur. The raid continued for nine hours.
After marathon interrogations, the ED arrested Chinmoy and Kiran on Tuesday morning. They were produced in the special court of the ED in Calcutta on Tuesday and remanded in ED custody till February 18.
Sources in the ED said they had found unaccounted money of around ₹150 crore in the duo’s bank accounts. The ED claimed the unaccounted money was generated through coal smuggling.
The sources in the ED said the two arrested real estate developers, Chinmoy of Durgapur and Kiran of Raniganj, were close associates of the alleged kingpin of the coal smuggling syndicate, Anup Majhi aka Lala.
“They used to invest unaccounted money earned from coal smuggling in real estate development in Durgapur and Asansol. They also used to run a coal smuggling syndicate in Asansol and Durgapur on behalf of Anup Majhi,” said a source.
The ED and the CBI have been probing the multi-crore coal scam in Bengal since November 2020.
The ED has renewed and intensified investigations since last month following the raids on the office of the I-PAC, the election consultant of the Trinamool Congress, and the residence of its owner, Pratik Jain, in connection with the coal scam. The move, however, invited a fresh face-off between the BJP and Mamata Banerjee.
Earlier this month, the ED raided the residences of several businessmen with alleged links to the coal smuggling syndicate in Asansol and Durgapur.
Bangladeshi nabbed
The Border Security Force (BSF) posted at the India-Bangladesh border handed over a Bangladeshi national to the police in Malda on Monday night, after detaining him for allegedly infiltrating into India.
The detained person is Krishna Kumar Shil, 37, a resident of Jamnagar village in the Rajshahi district of Bangladesh. According to sources, he was intercepted by the BSF personnel on the same day while attempting to enter India illegally.