Kolkata, Jun 26 (IANS): Three persons including a senior official of Eastern Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday in connection with the multi-crore coal smuggling case in West Bengal.

One of the two persons arrested have been identified as the former General Manager of EC, Amit Kumar Dhar. The identities of the other two, both coal traders, are yet to be disclosed by the Central agency.

The three will be presented at a special court of CBI at Asansol in West Burdwan district on Wednesday, and according to sources, the Central counsel will seek their CBI custody. All the three persons who have been arrested were named in the chargesheet by CBI.

Sources said that the three individuals were summoned at CBI’s Nizam Palace office in central Kolkata for interrogation on Tuesday, following which, they appeared. After a night-long interrogation, CBI took them into custody early Wednesday morning.

On June 21, CBI arrested the current General Manager of ECL Naresh Chandra Saha and civil contractor Ashwini Kumar in relation to the coal smuggling case.

Sources said that the consecutive arrests prove the kind of network the kingpins of the coal smuggling racket had spread in ECL in carrying out their activities.

To recall, the CBI started its investigation in the coal smuggling case in 2020. Later the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also started a parallel investigation in the matter focusing on the money laundering aspect of the case.

The date for filing the final chargesheet in the matter at the same special court has been fixed on July 3, following which, the trial process will start. Sources said that the arrest of these two individuals before that date is extremely significant in effectively carrying out the trial process.