Durgapur: The ED on Tuesday conducted searches across Bengal, including the residence of a police officer in Durgapur, in connection with the ongoing probe into illegal coal and sand mining.On Tuesday morning, an ED team reached the house of a businessman at Punjabi Mor, near West Burdwan’s Jamuria Bazaar. By afternoon, SBI officials arrived there. Sources claimed currency-counting machines were brought in and documents were seized, though ED officials did not comment on this. Searches were also conducted at the homes of the trader’s two sons. ED officials searched a hardware store and a warehouse at Punjabi Mor and another shop in Hat Tala area.
Sleuths searched the Durgapur home of newly appointed Budbud OC Manoranjan Mandal next. Mandal was suspended during his stint as OC of Barabani PS between 2022 and 2024, and then transferred. The searches at his home continued for nearly 10 hours.ED also conducted marathon searches at multiple premises, including residences of sand traders Prabeer Dutta in Durgapur, Sheikh Hasan and Mirza Beg in Panagarh, Sheikh Kiran Mandal at Andal, and that of a coal trader in Pandaveshwar. The traders were questioned for hours.
