DAYA News Bureau 22 August 2022: In the name of cement factory, the business of stolen coal was going on behind the scenes. The police of the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate arrested the owner of the factory in a raid on Saturday night. The factory named Burdwan Super Cement is located in Sarpi under Durgapur’s Faridpur police station. The arrested factory owner Yogesh Rajdev was produced in the Durgapur sub-divisional court on Sunday morning, the judge ordered five days of police custody.
An official of Durgapur-Faridpur police station said, “Some people were arrested for allegedly being involved in the business of stolen coal. By interrogating them, the name of Yogesh Rajdev was found. Yogesh used to buy stolen coal and deliver it to different places. He will be taken into custody and questioned.”
The cement factory in Sarpi in question is very small with very miniscule production. The gates of the factory remains closed most of the day. But at night that factory is busy with the coming and going of vehicles including cycles and van rickshaw. Until dawn, sometimes on bicycles, sometimes in small motor van or small trucks stolen coal used to come to the factory. The stolen coal was stored inside. In this way the factory became practically a stolen coal depot. After stockpiling large quantities of coal, the stolen coal was delivered to various sponge iron factories and refractory units in big trucks at night. Those sponge iron factories and refractory units used to buy coal from here to get it at much lower prices than the market. The police are also investigating those factories, The business of stolen coal was going on like this, for a long time behind curtain of cement factory. Recently, CBI and CID have started separate investigations into coal smuggling. Names of several ECL officials, coal traders, factory owners have come up in the stolen coal business. The police stations are also investigating the area-based illegal trade of coal. In that investigation, the police of Durgapur-Faridpur police station got to know the name of Yogesh Rajdev, the owner of Burdwan Super Cement factory. After that he was arrested.