In dramatic turn of events, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on I-PAC chief's house and office, along with other locations, across states culminated into a legal battle in the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at helm against the central agency.
The ED had conducted raids in connection to the coal smuggling case, which they said was connected to I-PAC. The showdown started after CM Mamata reached the I-PAC cheif Pratik Jain's Loudan Street house in Kolkata. The ED accused her of obstructing the raid while Mamata accused them of trying to seize crucial TMC material, including candidates' list. CM Mamata is set to hold a protest rally today.
What is the coal smugglig case?
In 2020, the Centra Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case in an alleged coal smuggling orchestrated by kingpin Anup Majee alias Lala and others. Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate later registered a case under he Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED claims that probe has established money trail through hawala in the case. According to the investigation, Majee stole illegally excavated coal from the leasehold areas of West Bengals' Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited.
He then sold it to factories in several districts including in Bardhaman, Bankura, and Purulia. A large part of it was sold to the Shakambhari Group of companies, according to a report by The Indian Express.
I-PAC in hot waters
While examining the hawala money trail, the ED allegedly came across the name of I-PAC. BJP leader Sambit Patra on Thursday told the media, during a press conference in Bhubaneshwar, that I-PAC's name emerged in hawala trail.
The Indian Express report cited an ED official saying, "One such operator, allegedly involved in layering the proceeds of crime from coal smuggling, had facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to I-PAC, the political consultancy firm. I-PAC is one of the entities linked to hawala money".
Developments in the case and TMC under scanner
TMC and its members are under the scanner of probe agencies. ED and CBI have already quizzed Rujira Banerjee and her husband Abhishek Banerjee, CM Mamata's Nephew And TMC MP. The probe agencies have claimed her to be having links with kingpin Majee.
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Earlier in 2021, the ED told a special court that a substantial amount was paid to Rujira and her sister Maneka Gambhir by a key accused while requesting custody of the then inspector in-charge of Bakura police station Ashok Kumar Mishra.
According to ED, Ashok had claimed that the money came from Majee and was given at the behest of Vinay Mishra, a TMC functionary and accused in the case.