Kolkata,  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Bankura Superintendent of Police Koteswara Rao N on April 12 for questioning in connection with alleged illegal coal smuggling case, sources said on Saturday.

A CBI source related to the probe told IANS, "We have summoned Rao for questioning in connection with the case on April 12. He has been asked to appear before the agency at our office in Salt Lake area in Kolkata."

The CBI, earlier in the day, questioned Anup Majhi a.k.a. Lala, the alleged kingpin of the coal pilferage case, for the fifth time.

Meanwhile, a CBI official said that Majhi has been asked to appear before the agency once again on April 13.

The CBI had registered a case involving alleged illegal coal pilferage in November last year, naming Majhi, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar and Jayesh Chandra Rai, ECL chief of security Tan Das, area security inspector Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai, and SSI and security in-charge Kajora area Debashish Mukherjee.

It had also recorded the statement of Rujira Banerjee, wife of Trinamool Congress MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee and his sister-in-law Menka Gambhir in the last week of February.

The agency has recently carried out searches at several locations in the state, including at the premises of Amit Agarwal, a close aide of Majhi, raising the heat in poll-bound West Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool and the BJP are engaged in a pitched battle.