Kolkata, June 21 : Two persons, including a senior official of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Friday, in connection with the coal smuggling case in West Bengal.

Sources said that one of the two persons is Naresh Chandra Saha, an ECL official in the rank of area general manager.

The other arrested person is Ashwini Kumar Yadav, a civil contractor by profession.

Sources said on receiving the interrogation notice from CBI, the two persons arrived at the central agency's Nizam Palace in central Kolkata on Thursday evening and after a night-long interrogation the two were arrested.

Both were presented at a special court of CBI at Asansol in West Burdwan district on Friday afternoon only.

To recall, the CBI started its investigation into the coal smuggling case in 2020. Later the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also started a parallel investigation into the matter focusing on the money laundering aspect of the case.

The prime accused in the case, Anup Majhi a.k.a. Lala, was absconding for a long time.

On May 14 this year, he surrendered at the special court of CBI at Asansol and was granted conditional bail against a personal bond of Rs 10,000.

Meanwhile, another prime accused in the coal smuggling case, Vinay Mishra, has continued to remain absconding. As per the latest information available from central agencies, Mishra, a former youth Trinamool Congress leader, is hiding at Vanuatu Island and has also taken citizenship there.

The date for filing the final charge sheet in the matter at the special court has been fixed on July 3, following which the trial process will start.

Sources said that the arrest of these two individuals before that date is extremely significant in effectively carrying out the trial process.

/IANS