KOLKATA: In connection with an ongoing investigation into the multi-billion dollar coal smuggling fraud, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Asansol in West Bengal's West Burdwan district on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against 15 people.

Along with the names of those people directly connected to the illegal coal trade, the list also includes the names of several plant owners for whom arrest warrants have been issued.

The CBI filed its complaint with this particular court on July 19 of this year. The charging sheet included 41 people, 15 of whom were the targets of Wednesday afternoon's arrest warrants.

Anup Maji alias Lala, his evading associates Binoy Mishra and Ratnesh Verma, four notorious coal mafias --Jaideb Mondal, Narayan Chanda, and Nirad Mondal—as well as eight former and current employees of the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) were among those named in the charge sheet as additional defendants.

Bikash Mishra is still being held in judicial custody at Presidency Central Correctional Home even though his brother Binoy Mishra is currently missing and is thought to have sought refuge in the Vanuatu Islands. Additionally, eight current and former ECL personnel were detained by the CBI.

However, the main accused Anup Maji alias Lala has managed to escape arrest because of a protection from the Supreme Court. However, he had been questioned several times by the CBI sleuths.

Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress and the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been questioned by investigators from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who are running a parallel investigation into the issue. 

The ED has questioned Rujira Narula Banerjee, the wife of Abhishek Banerjee, and Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law. A number of state-based Indian Police Service (IPS) officials have also been interrogated in the case.

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