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ED raids spark fiery TMC-BJP standoff in poll-bound West Bengal
ED said its searches were linked to an investigation of an illegal coal mining racket in the state
The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) searches on Thursday at the offices of a political strategy firm in Kolkata turned into a pitched political battle with West Bengal’s chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee claiming it was an effort by the agency to glean intelligence on her party’s election strategy and candidates, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition in the state, countering that Banerjee was shielding the corrupt and interfering in the lawful functioning of a federal agency.
The matter has now reached the Calcutta high court which will hear it on Friday.
ED said its searches were linked to an investigation of an illegal coal mining racket in the state that found illegal transfers to I-PAC, the political consultancy advising the TMC. Bengal is scheduled to go to polls in April or May.
The federal agency carried out searches at the office of I-PAC and the residence of its director Pratik Jain. But even as the searches were on, Banerjee stormed into Jain’s residence, and took away documents and a laptop, accusing ED of seizing her party’s internal documents and sensitive data relating to the 2026 assembly polls, including the candidate list.
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Countering this in a statement, the agency accused the TMC chief of interfering in the ED’s action and taking away evidence.
In parallel developments, additional solicitor general Dhiraj Trivedi, for ED, brought the matter to the notice of the Calcutta high court, seeking its intervention while Jain’s family approached the same bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh, accusing ED of exceeding its jurisdiction. The court permitted both sides to file petitions to be heard on Friday, lawyers said. TMC also filed a police complaint against ED while its workers hit the streets across Kolkata and the districts in the afternoon. The party has said there will be a large rally against ED in Kolkata on Friday.
ED’s money laundering probe in the matter is based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) First Information Report (FIR) registered in November 2020 on allegations that coal was being illegally mined at Eastern Coalfields Ltd‘s mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in West Bengal.
The anti-money laundering probe agency has previously questioned TMC’s national general secretary and member of parliament Abhishek Banerjee, alleging that he is a beneficiary of funds obtained in the illegal mining.
Also read: 'What if we...': Mamata Banerjee's big dare after I-PAC chief raided by ED
ED said on Thursday that the coal smuggling syndicate led by key accused Anup Majee “used to steal and illegally excavate coal from ECL leasehold areas of West Bengal”. “Thereafter, this coal was sold at various factories/plants located in Bankura, Bardhhaman, Purulia and other districts of West Bengal.”
“Investigation revealed that a large part of this coal was sold to the Shakambhari Group of companies. Investigation revealed a link with Hawala operators as well. Multiple evidence including statements of various persons confirmed the hawala nexus. One hawala operator linked to layering of proceeds of crime of coal smuggling had facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to I-PAC. The persons linked to generation of coal smuggling proceeds, hawala operators and handlers are covered in PMLA search on Thursday. I-PAC is also one of the entities linked to hawala money,” ED added in a statement.
ED teams accompanied by the paramilitary personnel, searched about 10 premises across West Bengal and Delhi, including I-PAC’s Salt Lake office in Kolkata and Jain’s house at Loudon Street in south Kolkata, around 12km away from his Salt Lake office. The searches started around 6am. ED said the searches in Delhi were linked to hawala dealers, but did not disclose the exact locations.
Banerjee reached Jain’s home at 12.05pm with Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma and then I-PAC’s Salt Lake office at 12.50pm with director general of police Rajeev Kumar. Banerjee left the Salt Lake office late in the afternoon after a large number of files were taken out of the office and loaded into one of the cars in her convoy. Eyewitnesses said there was a verbal altercation between Banerjee and ED officials.
ED said Jain’s residence was searched as they had specific information pertaining to certain transactions related to coal mining irregularities. Jain is also the IT head of TMC.
Banerjee alleged that ED “stole” data related to the coming elections.
“The ED transferred all data relating to our election strategy, our candidate list and the work we are doing to help people during the SIR from the hard discs, iPhones and laptops. The elections will be over by the time we prepare these again,” Banerjee told reporters outside I-PAC’s office.
“This is a crime. We are a registered political party. We pay income tax. Hold audits. If ED needed any document they could have collected it from the Income Tax department. Income Tax sends notices to us before elections but never to the BJP. It is the biggest dacoit....money power, muscle power..killer of democracy. They are sending notices to millions in the name of SIR, citing logistical discrepancies to delete names of voters. EC is not giving that list to us,” Banerjee said.
Her reference was to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. On December 16, the Election Commission published the state’s draft electoral roll after the first phase of the SIR, with around 5.82 million deletions. Banerjee has written to chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar alleging that the SIR was flawed and many may lose their right to vote as a result. On December 31, 2025, a TMC delegation met Kumar at the EC’s office in New Delhi, sparking a war-of-words between the political party and the poll panel over the issue.
I-PAC worked with the TMC in 2021 as well.
The BJP’s Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya targeted Banerjee saying she intervened in the operations of a federal agency, violating her constitutional duty as CM.
“I am not here to speak for ED but to reply to the allegations she raised against the BJP. Mamata Banerjee today left her seal on corruption which she has institutionalised in Bengal. She insulted the judiciary as well since all federal probes were ordered by courts,” he added.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, too, spoke out against Banerjee saying she overstepped her limits.
And ED accused her of obstructing the probe.
“Proceedings were being conducted in a peaceful and professional manner, till the arrival of West Bengal CM, Mamata Baneerjee along with a large number of police officials. Banerjee entered the residential premises of Pratik Jain, and took away key evidence including physical documents and electronic devices,” ED said in its statement.
The CM’s convoy, ED said, “then proceeded to I-PAC’s office premises, from where she, her aides, and the state police personnel forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidence”.
“The above actions have resulted in obstruction in ongoing investigation and proceedings under the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA),” the agency said in its statement.
The agency also denied that the searches were linked to the coming elections. “The search is evidence-based and is not targeted at any political establishment,” it said.
“No party office has been searched. The search is not linked to any elections, and is part of a regular crackdown on money laundering. The search is conducted strictly in accordance with established legal safeguards.”
The federal agency has previously claimed that the proceeds of the crime aggregate around ₹1,352 crore .
