On May 26, 2022, the Directorate of Enforcement detained Shri Gurupada Maji in connection with a case involving illicit coal mining under section 19(1) of the PMLA, 2002. He was presented to the Honorable Rouse Avenue court in Delhi today, and the judge has granted ED custody for seven days. He has collected more than Rs. 66 Crore from Shri Anup Majee@Lala and his accomplices as proceeds of crime (POC) from their illegal coal mining company. He is one of Shri Anup Majee’s partners and is known as the “Kingpin of Illegal Coal Mining Business Activities in West Bengal.” Additionally, he paid a Kolkata-based CA around Rs. 26 crores in cash to set up dummy firms for the purpose of recording lodging entries.
With the assistance of the aforementioned Kolkata-based CA, Shri Gurupada Maji obtained 13 shell businesses during this procedure. The 13 shell firms had a combined net worth of more than Rs 28 crore, but he purchased them for just Rs 88 lakh on paper, allowing him to enter the banking system with a sizable amount of money that had been earned unlawfully.
In this case, this is the third arrest. Earlier, on March 16 and April 3, respectively, two defendants, Shri Vikas Mishra and Shri Ashok Kumar Mishra (Inspector-in-Charge of West Bengal Police) were detained. Vikas Mishra and Ashok Kumar Mishra were the targets of a Prosecution Complaint in this case, which was submitted on May 13, 2021. On July 28, 2021, the Honorable Court was happy to take note of the aforementioned Prosecution Complaint.
An FIR was filed by the CBI on November 27, 2020, against Shri Amit Kumar Dhar, the former general manager of ECL’s Kunustoria Area, Shri Jayesh Chandra Rai, general manager of ECL’s Kajora Area, Shri Tanmay Das, the company’s chief of security in Asansol, Shri Dhananjay Rai, the area security inspector for Kunustoris, Shri Debashish Mukherjee, the security in charge for Kajora Area, Shri An, In this case, the entire amount of the crime’s proceeds is Rs. 1352 Cr.
More than 35 searches under Section 17 of the PMLA have been carried out over the course of the inquiry in this matter, and properties worth more than Rs. 180 Crore have been attached.
