West Bengal coal mining case: Delhi HC grants anticipatory bail to accused Anup Majee

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Anup Majee, accused of money laundering in a case linked to the West Bengal coal mining case.

The counsel for the petitioner states that Anup Majee is a 47-year-old businessman from Purulia, West Bengal, with strong social roots.

In this case, there are allegations of Money laundering of Rs. 2700 crore. Justice Tejas Karia granted anticipatory bail to Anup Majee, with the condition of furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh in the event of arrest. He is directed to surrender his passport.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, alongwith advocates Siddharth S Yadav and Shadaman Ahmed Siddique appeared for Anup Majee.

The trial court dismissed his plea on May 22, 2025. The court said that the grant of anticipatory bail at this stage would frustrate the investigation, hamper meaningful interrogation of the applicant, and cause hindrance in collecting useful information, including material that might have been concealed. Having regard to the material collected by DoE, at this stage of the investigation, no case is made out for granting the anticipatory bail, the trial court had said. On the basis of an FIR lodged by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had lodged a case in 2020 for the investigation of alleged money laundering.

The proceeding(s) under the PMLA were initiated by the ED on 28.11.2020, over 53 months ago, and Prosecution complaint (charge sheet) has already been filed before the special CBI judge at Rouse Avenue on May 13, 2021. It is contended that the ED has embarked on a witch-hunt against the Majee that has spanned almost 4.5 years in an attempt to implicate him in the proceeding(s) emanating from the Subject ECIR solely as a mean(s) to settle political scores.

It was also argued that there is no apprehension of the accused fleeing from justice. He satisfies triple test. The bail plea was opposed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It is alleged that Anup Majee alias Lala was running an organised syndicate involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold areas of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL).

He is stated to be the ring leader of the syndicate which was carrying out the illegal mining with the help of public servants. On these allegations, the FIR of predicate offences was registered and investigation was taken up. It has been stated that evidence of extensive mining was found during investigation and several machines and vehicles involved in illegal excavation and transportation of the coal were seized.

During departmental raids of ECL, a large quantity of stolen coal, including 9.050 MT of coal, was recovered from the railway siding of Pandeshwar Area as well as several other locations.

Investigation revealed that the applicant had built an organised gang, which was carrying out illegal coal mining at a very large scale by deploying heavy mining machinery, earth movers, explosives, and this was being done under the protection & patronage of influential persons of the area. (ANI)