Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Shillong Sub Zonal Office, conducted search operations on Tuesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in several places in Guwahati and Kolkata connected to illegal coke plants in Meghalaya, which were shut down due to an order of the Meghalaya High Court.
The Meghalaya HC, vide its order in a public interest litigation case (PIL No. 14 of 2022) dated December 16, 2022, had ordered the shutting down of all coke plants in the state of Meghalaya. An FIR was lodged by the ADC-cum-SDO (Civil), Mawshynrut Civil Sub-Division, after a joint operation with the police led to the shutting down of 57 illegal coke plants in the Shallang area of West Khasi Hills District in Meghalaya, as a result of the above Meghalaya HC order.
ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered in the Shallang P.S., West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya.
ED investigation revealed that the coke plants were demolished because they were operating illegally, some without the required permits and others in violation of environmental regulations. Investigations revealed that the actual operators of the illegal coke plants were mostly from Assam, and they were running the business of coke plants illegally in Meghalaya. Many coke plants were allegedly run in a 'benami' manner, where they were shown to be owned by locals from Meghalaya, but the actual persons were running the business from Assam. The investigations in the matter also revealed that these illegal cokes plants were consuming illegally mined coal and were not having any legal source of coal.
During the course of the current searches by the ED, several incriminating documents were found and seized. Cash amounting to Rs.14.2 lakh was also seized and several high value cross border transactions were also found. Many property documents and a large number of bank and Mutual Fund accounts have also been found, which establishes that the illegal coke plant industry in West Khasi Hills District had generated substantial 'proceeds of crime', primarily through the sale of illegally mined coal and processed coke.
The ED informed that further investigation is under progress.
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