The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested notorious coal businessman Izhar Ansari from his residence in Millat Colony, Hazaribagh. The arrest took place after the ED sleuths raided his residence for the second time on Tuesday, after 03 March 23.
Before the arrest ED conducted search operations on three locations related to Ansari. The agency also interrogated M/s Om Coke Industries manager Harinath Mahato based on facts related to the coal business.
Authorities in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand had apprehended a truck driver at Mandru police station in connection with a large-scale coal smuggling operation in 2019. The intercepted cargo consisted of 19 tons of coal, and the driver claimed it to be Izhar Ansari's coal truck.
As investigations unfolded, a staggering total of 86,000 tons of coal was revealed to be involved in the smuggling racket.
The proceeds from this operation amounted to a substantial 70 crores, with allegations suggesting a significant portion was directed as commission to a bureaucrat now incarcerated.
The arrest of the truck driver followed a meticulous 10-hour raid conducted by law enforcement, marking a crucial step in dismantling the intricate network behind the smuggling operation. As the legal proceedings progress, further revelations are expected to shed light on the extent of this illicit enterprise.
The ED team had earlier raided Izhar Ansari's house for the first time on March 03, 2023.
In the raid, ED had recovered more than Rs 3 crore in cash from Izhar's house. The ancestral house of coal businessman Izhar Ansari is in the Indira Panchayat of Charhi. He has been associated with the coal business since 1981-82 (40 years).
The ED conducted raids on the locations of Izhar Ansari in connection with the coal linkage case. It is said that when suspended IAS Pooja Singhal was the Mining Secretary, Izhar Ansari had made illegal income from coal on a large scale.
There are more than 12 shell companies in the name of Ansari, in the name of these shell companies the money of coal smuggling was being moved. The ED is investigating the case by obtaining the documents of all the shell companies of Izhar Ansari.
The ED during the March 3, 2023 raids had arranged note sorting machines from banks to count the cash recovered from Izhar Ansari’s Millat Colony residence in Hazaribag.
It is alleged that Ansari runs the Kahkasha group of companies and he used to collect black money on behalf of a senior officer of the mining department.
Izhar was arrested by the ED in May 2022 in connection with the MGNREGA scam and was on temporary bail granted by the Supreme Court.
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