ED Raids I-PAC Offices Linked to TMC; Mamata Banerjee Calls It Political Vendetta

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids at multiple locations linked to I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), a Kolkata-based political consultancy firm, and its director Prateek Jain, in connection with a money laundering investigation. The searches began around 7 am and were carried out with the support of central paramilitary forces.

The raids covered nearly ten locations, including I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake, Prateek Jain’s residence on Loudon Street in Kolkata, and four locations in Delhi.

According to the ED, Jain—co-founder and director of I-PAC—is allegedly involved in money laundering related to the West Bengal coal scam. I-PAC currently manages the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee strongly criticised the raids, calling them politically motivated and unconstitutional. Banerjee visited Jain’s residence during the search and alleged that the ED was attempting to seize internal documents of the Trinamool Congress.

She claimed that the agency tried to confiscate party records and hard disks containing details of TMC candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections. Mamata further alleged that ED officials attempted to take away hard disks, mobile phones, candidate lists, and internal party documents, questioning whether collecting information of a political party falls under the ED’s mandate.

“This is not law enforcement; this is political vendetta. The Union Home Minister is behaving not like a protector of the nation, but like the most oppressive person,” Banerjee said. She added, “What would happen if I raid the BJP party office? They would create a massive uproar. On one hand, they are conducting voter's list revisions in West Bengal and deleting names. On the other, because of the elections, they are collecting all information related to my party.”