The Enforcement Directorate grilled Indian Administrative Services officer and former District Magistrate of Hamirpur, B Chandrakala, over illegal mining during the previous Samajwadi Party regime, in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The questioning continued till late in the evening but officials refused to give any details.

On January 24 last, Chandrakala was summoned for questioning but she sent her lawyer to file the reply after which ED officials issued fresh summon, asking her to appear personally and reply to the charges.

Sources said that Chandrakala appeared before the ED around 11:30 am on Wednesday. The ED sleuths grilled her particularly about ignoring e-tendering process while allotting the mines and how she amassed huge assets in a short career span.

The interrogation continued till late evening and the officer was asked to appear again before the agency for further investigation.        

On Tuesday, the ED had summoned Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra for interrogation but he too skipped the session and instead sent his lawyer.

The ED has lodged a report against 11 persons, including the IAS officer and the SP MLC, in connection with the illegal mining case. The ED later issued summons to the accused to appear before it for interrogation.

In the first week of January, the CBI, which is probing the illegal mining case on the direction of Allahabad High Court, raided residences and other places of 11 accused, including Chandrakala and Ramesh Kumar Mishra.

The IAS officer is accused of flouting rules and granting licences for sand mining during her tenure as District Magistrate of Hamirpur in 2012.