High drama has been going on since Thursday when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the Kolkata home of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) chief Pratik Jain, along with the political consultancy’s office.
The I-PAC office in Salt Lake and Jain's house on Loudon Street were among about 10 premises, including four in Delhi, raided by the central probe agency in the presence of paramilitary teams.
The raids have put West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at odds with the central government, as she has alleged that the probe agencies are being misused to obtain sensitive Trinamool Congress data. The TMC supremo stormed into Jain’s home on Thursday while the raids were still ongoing.
She lashed out at the BJP on Friday after TMC MPs were forcefully evicted from outside union home minister Amit Shah’s office in New Delhi while protesting against the ED raids.
Banerjee herself led a protest march against the ED action in Kolkata later in the day. All this drama begs for one question: What exactly is the ED’s case against I-PAC and its chief, Pratik Jain?
What is the ED case against I-PAC and its chief?
According to a statement from the Enforcement Directorate, the searches were part of a probe into a 2020 case registered by the CBI against a coal smuggling syndicate allegedly led by Anup Majhi, alias Lala, who is accused of illegally excavating coal from Eastern Coalfields' leasehold areas in and around Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district.
{{/usCountry}}According to a statement from the Enforcement Directorate, the searches were part of a probe into a 2020 case registered by the CBI against a coal smuggling syndicate allegedly led by Anup Majhi, alias Lala, who is accused of illegally excavating coal from Eastern Coalfields' leasehold areas in and around Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district.
{{/usCountry}}According to the ED, a hawala operator linked to the coal smuggling racket facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd, the registered company of I-PAC.
"IPAC is also one of the entities linked to hawala money," the agency alleged, maintaining that the proceedings were being conducted peacefully and professionally until the chief minister’s arrival.
Why are I-PAC raids being linked to West Bengal elections?
The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is a political consultancy firm that works with parties and leaders on election strategy, campaign management, data analytics, and digital outreach. Founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor, I-PAC has been working with the TMC since June 2019.
While working on TMC’s 2026 assembly election strategy, I-PAC also oversees the party's IT cell.
The TMC has alleged that the ED confiscated party-related materials, including hard disks and candidate lists, and accused Union home minister Amit Shah of misusing central agencies. The probe agency has denied these allegations.
"It is clarified that the search is evidence-based and not targeted at any political establishment. No party office has been searched. The search is not linked to any elections," the ED said, adding that the actions of Banerjee and the police amounted to obstruction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).