The raids were carried out in connection with some hawala transactions and had nothing to do with elections, ED said after chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused it of stealing "Trinamool’s political documents".
In a detailed statement on the drama that unfolded in Kolkata, the ED accused Mamata Banerjee and her aides of "forcibly removing" physical documents and electronic devices during the raids.
The ED said the searches at the residence of I-PAC head Prateek Jain in Kolkata and the group's office were peaceful till the Chief Minister arrived with "a large number of police officers".
“A person holding a constitutional post misused her authority to take away files,” the central agency’s statement said.
“The raid was carried out based on evidence and did not target any political party or any organisation. In connection with a case of coal smuggling raids were carried out in 10 different locations in West Bengal and Delhi. Four of these locations are in Delhi and six in Calcutta.
The raids were carried out in connection with some hawala transactions. The raid has got nothing to do with elections.”
The ED officials on Thursday, Jan 8th, morning raided the office of the I-PAC, which has been working with the Trinamool Congress and the Bengal government post-2019 Lok Sabha polls and which was instrumental in the party returning to power in the 2021 Assembly polls with a thumping majority and also the good showing in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The ED said the searches at the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain in Kolkata and the group's office were peaceful till Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly arrived with a large number of police officers.
In its petition, the ED, which claimed that the raids were linked to the Bengal coal mining scam case, accused Mamata of "obstructing" an official investigation. Meanwhile, the I-PAC, which was founded by poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, has sought a pause on the ED raids, which come months ahead of the Bengal elections.
Addressing the media, the Trinamool supremo claimed the raids were "politically motivated" and aimed to "steal data" relating to her party's election strategy and candidate list for the 2026 elections. She claimed the searches were carried out at the behest of Home Minister Amit Shah.
Separately, the family of Jain has filed a police complaint against the ED, alleging theft of important documents during the searches.
The agency stated that senior cops, including the police chief and deputy commissioner of police, South Kolkata, also visited the premises to verify the identity of the ED officials.
The ED further alleged that Mamata's convoy then arrived at the I-PAC's office in Salt Lake, from where she, her aides and police officials "forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidence".
The agency said it amounted to obstruction of an ongoing investigation under the PMLA.
The case originates from a CBI FIR registered in Kolkata on November 27, 2020, against coal smuggling kingpin Anup Majhi and others. The ED filed a case under the PMLA on November 28.
The agencies have alleged that Majhi was the kingpin of a coal smuggling syndicate that operated out of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) leasehold areas in the Asansol district.
Investigators claimed that the syndicate illegally excavated and stole coal from ECL mines and sold it to factories and industrial units across Bankura, Bardhaman, Purulia and other districts of Bengal. A significant portion of this illegally mined coal, the ED claimed, was sold to companies linked to the Shakambhari Group.
ED sources said Anup Majhi and his aides paid money generated from the 'scam' to I-PAC on behalf of the TMC to fund the party's campaign in Goa.
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| "Took away documents" - the aapa stye |
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