The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday raided a number of locations including Kolkata where some businessmen were allegedly involved in smuggling of sands.
While the prime target of the raids was SK Zahirul, the houses of other businessmen and some insurance agents were also been raided in the smuggling racket that reportedly functioned out of several centres including Kolkata, Jhargram in Jangalmahal area and some other suburban areas, sources said refusing to divulge the political connections of the accused persons.
Notwithstanding Zahirul a former village level police officer who experienced a meteoric rise in the recent years is reported to have close connections with the Trinamool Congress leadership, sources said adding searches in his house had yielded wads of currency notes and other documents. Raids are being carried out in several areas, including Behala, Regent Park, Bidhannagar and Kalyani, in connection with the scam, ED sources said adding Zahirul’s racket was primarily involved in digging sands in and around the Subarnarekha River where he held several sand mines.
He was involved in illegal extraction of sand, sources said adding the racket could run into tens of crores as it involved faking of Government licenses to dig sand, sources said adding the hawala business — linked to illegal sand mining — of a number of businessmen from Sector V area of Kolkata’s Salt Lake and Rajarhaat area were also being investigated. ED sources said that the officials were also to ascertain whether Zahirul was linked to a very senior TMC leader from Birbhum who was earlier involved in illegal sand, stone and cattle smuggling cases.
The TMC leadership however said that no leader of their party had any involvement in sand smuggling.
“The TMC is always against such illegal acts and if anyone is trying to link today’s raids to our party then he is doing it simply for political gains,” party leader Debangshu Bhattacharya said.