ED alleges Mamata Banerjee removed ‘key evidence’ from I-PAC office during Kolkata raids

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intervened in its search operations related to a money laundering probe and removed crucial materials from the premises under raid. The allegations are linked to a case arising out of suspected coal smuggling in West Bengal.

According to an official statement from the ED, Mamata Banerjee entered the Kolkata residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain during the raid and allegedly took away “key evidence”, including physical documents and electronic devices. Pratik Jain is a co-founder of the political consultancy I-PAC and heads the Trinamool Congress IT cell.

The agency further claimed that Banerjee later went to the I-PAC office in Salt Lake, where she, along with her aides and state police officers, “forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidence” from the premises. The ED said that until her arrival, the proceedings were being conducted “peacefully and professionally”.

What is the I-PAC case about?

The searches were conducted at 10 locations — six in West Bengal and four in Delhi — as part of investigations into an alleged coal smuggling racket dating back to 2020. The syndicate, said to be led by Anup Majhi alias “Lala”, is accused of illegal excavation and theft of coal from areas under Eastern Coalfields in and around Asansol.

The agency claims that a hawala operator connected to the smuggling network routed tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd, the registered company of I-PAC. “I-PAC is also one of the entities linked to hawala money,” the ED alleged.

The ED said the actions of the chief minister and senior police officials caused “obstruction” in its ongoing investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

At the same time, the agency clarified that its searches were not politically targeted, stating that no party office had been searched and that the operation was part of a “regular crackdown on money laundering”, unrelated to any election process.

The agency stressed that all procedures were conducted in line with legal safeguards.