Overview
- Enforcement Directorate teams conducted coordinated searches at seven premises tied to Nadimul Haque and his Urdu daily Akhbar-e-Mashriq in Kolkata, Delhi and Ranchi on Monday as part of a money‑laundering inquiry.
- The ED recorded an Enforcement Case Information Report under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after a Bidhannagar Police FIR that cited alleged publication of material promoting communal disharmony and suspicious funding.
- Investigators collected documentary and electronic records from the newspaper office, the MP’s residences including a Delhi government‑allotted house used by the party, and relatives’ homes while some family members were questioned.
- Some media reports, citing ED sources, say investigators are examining possible Dubai bank links, diversion of government advertising funds and hundreds of cryptocurrency transfers but those leads remain unverified.
- The raids have provoked sharp political backlash with TMC leaders calling the action a vendetta and BJP figures defending the agency’s legal remit, and the case could affect the paper’s staff, Haque’s family and the party’s internal factional politics.