Over dozen ED raids on I-PAC, cop, businessmen, former minister, actor ahead of West Bengal polls

In the past month alone, the agency has mounted over a dozen operations, with ED officials terming the crackdown crucial to unearth financial irregularities.

It isn’t just the political parties that have been busy in West Bengal over the past month, in the run-up to the assembly elections in the state (the first phase of the two-phase election is on Thursday); federal investigating agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been in the thick of action too, conducting high-profile raids, carrying out arrests, attaching properties, and filing charge sheets.

I-PAC works with the TMC and the latter has claimed that a conspiracy was being orchestrated by the BJP  to cripple its campaign through intimidation. (HT File)

In the past month alone, according to details compiled by HT, the agency has mounted over a dozen operations, with officials in ED  terming the crackdown crucial to unearth financial irregularities.

An ED officer, who didn’t want to be named, said “all of its action is in ongoing probes and has been taken by following due process”.

However, the ruling party in the state has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has weaponised investigative agencies ahead of the assembly elections.

ED’s most prominent action has been against the Indian Political Action Committee or I-PAC , first raided on April 2 in a fresh case related to its unaccounted funding; this was followed by the arrest of its director, Vinesh Chandel, on April 13. The agency has alleged that it has detected proceeds of crime worth ₹50 crore linked to I-PAC so far. The federal agency issued a summons last week to another I-PAC director, Pratik Jain’s wife, Barbie, and brother Pulkit. On April 14, the agency also attached assets worth ₹159 crore in its separate probe related to the alleged coal mining in West Bengal, an investigation in which I-PAC was raided in January this year.

I-PAC works with the TMC, and the latter has claimed that a conspiracy was being orchestrated by the BJP  to cripple its campaign through intimidation.

Another high-profile ED action was seen in West Bengal on April 19, when the agency launched raids at the residence of Kolkata police Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Shantanu Sinha Biswas, and businessman, Joy Kamdar (managing director of Sun Enterprise) in a money laundering case pertaining to various criminal activities such as extortion, grabbing of real estate properties, and unauthorized construction.

Kamdar was arrested the same day, while summons were issued to Biswas, who is under ED’s scanner in two other cases, including one pertaining to the misuse of the NRI quota in admissions to private medical colleges in West Bengal. In the Joy Kamdar investigation, ED had previously issued summons to Gaurav Lal, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police, Howrah Police Commissionerate on April 13.

The federal agency , on April 22, summoned Bengali actor and former TMC member of Parliament Nusrat Jahan in connection with its investigation into the diversion of PDS (public distribution system) ration in the state.

On Tuesday, it summoned the former principal secretary (education) of West Bengal, Manish Jain in connection with the irregularities in the assistant teacher recruitment. The premises of former minister Partha Chatterjee were raided on April 11 in connection with the case.

Last week, the financial crimes probe agency also raided a Kolkata-based real estate firm, Merlin Group, promoted by Sushil Mohta and Saket Mohta. It is alleged that the accused fabricated and forged documents and fraudulently grabbed various parcels of land, including public land, in the state.

Former Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said, “ED has become a tool of the BJP, and it is now known to everybody. If you see the chronology, whenever there is an election in opposition-ruled states, ED, as well as CBI, are used as political tools to intimidate opposition leaders.”