Kolkata, April 3 Raju Jha, the coal trader killed in a shootout at Saktigarh in East Burdwan district of West Bengal, was supposed to be present at the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s headquarters in New Delhi on Monday and face interrogation in the connection with the multi-crore coal smuggling scam in West Bengal.
He was shot dead late Saturday evening.
Jha had started from his residence at Durgapur in West Burdwan district on Saturday evening for Kolkata and on Sunday evening he was supposed to take a flight to New Delhi from the Kolkata airport.
However, on Saturday evening on his way to Kolkata, he and his associate Brotin Bandopadhyay stopped at sweetmeat hub at Saktigarh for some refreshments, when the miscreants showered a volley of bullets towards them.
In that firing Jha, who had past criminal records, was killed and Brotin Bandopadhyay was injured.
Earlier, Raju Jha had also been questioned in the same matter by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is conducting a parallel probe in the coal-smuggling scale.
Already it has been revealed that the Toyota SUV through which the victim was travelling from Durgapur to Kolkata on Saturday was owned by one Abdul Latif, who is currently absconding, and wanted by the CBI in connection with the cattle scam.
The SUV bearing registration number 'WB-48D-7032' was purchased in January 2020 and was registered in the name of Latif with the regional transport office (RTO) at Bolpur in Birbhum district.
While questions are being raised in the political circles of the state about the connection between Jha, who is officially with the BJP since he joined the saffron camp before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections and Latif, the BJP leadership have started raising questions about the timing of his assassination.
According to BJP's national vice-president and party Lok Sabha member Dilip Ghosh, it is yet to be known what the victim revealed during his earlier interrogation with the CBI.
"It is quite possible that he was killed before he could reveal anything more important to ED," Ghosh said.
Trinamool Congress leadership has alleged that the BJP was unnecessarily trying to create mud-slinging over the entire development.
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