Overview
- The Enforcement Directorate searched I-PAC’s Salt Lake office and director Pratik Jain’s Kolkata home in a PMLA case tied to a 2020 coal-smuggling probe, saying the action was evidence-based and not election-linked.
- ED alleges Mamata Banerjee entered raid sites and took documents and electronic devices, and the agency has asked the Calcutta High Court to address what it calls obstruction of its investigation.
- Banerjee accuses the ED and Union home minister Amit Shah of seeking TMC hard disks, strategy files and candidate lists, asserting she recovered party materials from the locations.
- Political fallout intensified as Banerjee led a protest march in Kolkata and TMC leaders rallied in Delhi, where police detained several MPs during demonstrations.
- ED says hawala operators routed crores to I-PAC as proceeds of crime, while I-PAC and TMC have filed challenges to the legality of the searches with hearings pending.