There was more trepidation in the ruling Trinamool Congress ranks as the Central Bureau of Investigation officials on Wednesday raided seven properties of senior Bengal Minister Maloy Ghatak.
The Minister was earlier twice summoned by the central agency in connection with coal smuggling scam. He, however, did not show up.
The CBI sleuths raided a number of Ghatak’s houses, including in Kolkata and Asansol from where he hails.
According to sources, the name of Ghatak an MLA from Asansol surfaced during the interrogation of prime accused Vikas Mishra, Anup Maji and others. Vikas Mishra is the younger brother of Vinay Mishra, the former vice president of Bengal TMC youth wing.
Vinay Mishra once a close aide of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has allegedly fled the country and is presently in island nation of Bhanuatu. The central agencies have also been questioning Banerjee and his wife in connection with the scam.