The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out raids on properties linked to a flight charter firm in and around Kolkata as part of its investigation into allegedly suspicious transactions from the bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), people familiar with the development said.
ED searches aviation company linked to alleged fund transfers from TMC bank accounts (ANI)
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The transactions pertain to a period when the party was led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, officers of the financial crimes investigation agency said on condition of anonymity. Her party colleague said the allegations were politically motivated.
In the wake of a defeat at the hands of the BJP in this year’s assembly elections, a section of leaders and workers led by Ritabrata Banerjee, split from the party, naming their own chairman and laying claim to the party’s symbol and assets, including bank accounts.
Debit transactions in three of these accounts have been frozen by police after complaints by the rebel faction seeking the source of funds. The freeze has been challenged in court by the Mamata-led faction.
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Debit transactions in three of these accounts have been frozen by police after complaints by the rebel faction seeking the source of funds. The freeze has been challenged in court by the Mamata-led faction.
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The officers cited above did not reveal in which bank the accounts that are being probed were held or if they are the same accounts that were frozen.
They said the raids were on premises linked to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its directors, as well as an electoral trust. Preliminary investigations revealed that “funds worth around ₹160 crores were transferred from AITC accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its related entity, tentatively between April 2023 and June 2026”. Carewell Aviation, an officer added, “further routed an amount of ₹82.96 crore between 2023 and 2026 to another newly incorporated related entity”.
A second officer said that Tuesday’s searches revealed that “a significant amount travelled to a related entity of Carewell Aviation for purchasing an aircraft , an Embraer Legacy 600 and one helicopter, an Agusta 109 SP ”.
“An amount of ₹112 crore was used for making the said purchases,” he added.
The ED probealso revealed, according to the second officer, that “some foreign funding has also been utilized for making the purchase of the Agusta chopper. However, most of the funds have been sourced directly from the accounts of AITC”. “These Legacy 600 Embraer aircraft and Agusta helicopter were rented out to AITC itself, even though they were purchased from the corpus of AITC. Thereafter, substantial amounts were transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage. The entire arrangement appears highly dubious and seems designed to camouflage the actual beneficial purpose of the transactions, which is presently under investigation,” the officer added.
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Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, a leader in the Mamata Banerjee camp, stated the allegations were politically motivated. “Another cynically choreographed assault on a political rival, using every agency brazenly like a BJP branch office: ED, CBI, EC, IT and more,” he said.
Carwell Aviation’s website says it specialises in a range of solutions including private jet charters, aircraft management, aircraft sales and acquisition, aircraft leasing and consultation.
Calls made by HT on the numbers provided on its website remained unanswered.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.
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Home/India News/Aircraft, chopper purchases under ED lens in alleged TMC funds case; ₹160 crore transactions probed
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