Trinamool youth leader's brother in ED net in illegal coal smuggling case

New Delhi, March 16 Ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it had arrested Trinamool Congress youth leader Vinai Mishra's brother Bikas Mishra in connection with its probe into the money laundering case in an alleged illegal coal smuggling case.

According to ED officials, Mishra was arrested from the national capital.

The official said that he was produced before a Special PMLA court here which sent him to six days agency custody.

The CBI has issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Bikas Mishra on March this year, as he was absconding.The ED case of money laundering is based on the CBI FIR, which it registered in November last year.

The CBI had registered a case against the alleged kingpin of the pilferage racket Anup Majhi alias Lala, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar and Jayesh Chandra Rai, ECL chief of security Tanmay Das, area security inspector Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai, and SSI and security in-charge Kajora area Debashish Mukherjee.

The CBI has also issued an LOC against Vinai Mishra in January this year after his name cropped up in the case.

The CBI has also questioned Trinamool COngress MP Abhishek Banerjee's wife Rujira Banerjee and his sister-in-law Menka Gambhir in connection with the case. The agency also recorded the statement of Gambhir's husband Ankush Arora and her father-in-law Pawan Arora in connection with the case.

Following the questioning of Rujira and Gambhir, the CBI team also carried out searches in Kolkata on the premises of a businessman Randhir Kumar Barnwal on February 26 this year.

The action of the CBI assumes importance as the polling to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases, on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29. Counting of votes will take place on May 2.

The ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP are engaged in a bitter war of words in the state.

( With inputs from IANS )