Pratik Jain: I-PAC Chief & IT Cell Head Of Trinamool Congress Raided By ED In Money Laundering Probe | X
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its chief Pratik Jain in West Bengal’s Kolkata. The raids were reportedly carried out as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam.
A total of 10 premises were searched, including I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake and Jain’s house on Loudon Street. Among these 10 locations, four are in Delhi. The raids started at around 7 am in the presence of central paramilitary teams.
Who Is Pratik Jain?
Jain is the co-founder and a director of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). He is an IIT-Bombay alumnus. He is known for poll data analysis and forming strategies. He is also the IT cell head of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
What Is The Case?
The ED case stems from a November 2020 FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which alleged a multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol, reported news agency PTI. Local coal operator Anup Majhi, alias Lala, is the prime suspect in the case.
Earlier, the ED also questioned TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, and claimed that he was a beneficiary of the funds obtained from the illegal coal trade.
Mamata Banerjee’s Reaction:
The West Bengal CM dramatically turned up at Jain’s residence amid an ED raid. She alleged that the central agency was attempting to seize the TMC’s internal documents, hard disks and sensitive data linked to its election strategy.
She said the raid at the residence and offices of Jain, “the in-charge of my IT cell”, was politically motivated and unconstitutional.
“They have raided the residence and offices of our in-charge of IT cell. They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which have details about our party candidates for the Assembly polls. I have brought those back,” Banerjee told reporters.
She accused the ED officials of walking away with hard disks, mobile phones, laptops, candidate lists and internal strategy documents of the ruling party.
“Is it the duty of the ED to collect political party data?” she asked.
