I-PAC Raid Row: Protest By TMC MPs Outside Amit Shah’s Office, Leaders Detained | Video

Last Updated:January 09, 2026, 12:03 IST

The protest by the TMC leaders comes after the ED conducted searches at two I-PAC-linked locations in Kolkata, including the residence of the firm’s chief, Pratik Jain.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra detained by Delhi Police (Credits: PTI)

Several leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien, were detained by Delhi Police on Friday while staging a protest outside the residence and office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The demonstration was held against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids carried out at the Kolkata offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC a day earlier.

Holding placards that read “Bengal rejects Modi-Shah’s dirty politics”, TMC MPs accused the Centre of using central agencies to target the party ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. The party claimed the ED action was politically motivated and aimed at intimidating the ruling party in the state.

Speaking to reporters during the protest, Mahua Moitra said, “Yesterday, entire India, Bengal witnessed how ED was misused by the Home Ministry. The ED was sent to steal our party’s political and strategic information. Mamata Banerjee is a lioness; she protected our party’s properties.”

TMC MP Kirti Azad also criticised the raids, calling them illegal. “They are acting undemocratically; even the raid was illegal. They loot and accuse us of scams. They took away our strategy and candidate lists. BJP’s internal survey shows they won’t get more than 25 seats. But Mamata Banerjee will secure a massive mandate as CM and go on to become the Prime Minister,” he said.

The protest in Delhi comes ahead of a march planned by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. According to PTI, Banerjee is set to lead a protest march in Kolkata from Jadavpur 8B Bus Stand to Hazra More at 2 pm against the ED action.

On Thursday, the ED conducted searches at two I-PAC-linked locations in Kolkata, including the residence of the firm’s chief, Pratik Jain. I-PAC provides political consultancy to the TMC and also manages the party’s IT and media operations, making the raids sensitive ahead of elections.

During the searches, Banerjee visited the I-PAC office and accused the agency of trying to seize internal documents, hard disks and digital data linked to the party’s election strategy. She described the action as a political vendetta and questioned the role of the ED and the Home Minister.

“Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah, to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list?… The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country and is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office?” Banerjee said.

She also linked the raids to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, alleging that voter names were being deleted ahead of the polls.

“On one side, they are deleting the names of all the voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal…Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party,” she added.

Banerjee asserted that the TMC is a registered political party that pays income tax and cannot be “bulldozed using money and muscle power,” as the political confrontation between the party and the Centre intensifies ahead of the elections.

Amit Malviya Attacks Mamata Banerjee, TMC

BJP leader Amit Malviya launched a scathing attack at the TMC and asked if I-PAC was operating on behalf of the state government.

“Reports and visuals indicate that Kolkata Police officials removed documents and files from the I-PAC office and placed them in Mamata Banerjee’s car. This raises fundamental questions. Were these documents related to the Trinamool Congress, and if so, why were state police personnel handling party material during an ED raid?,” he wrote on X.

“If they were official documents of the Government of West Bengal, what business did they have inside the office of a private political consultancy firm? Was I-PAC working solely for the TMC, or was it also operating on behalf of the state government? If the latter is true, it signals a complete collapse of the separation between party interests and state authority,” added Malviya.

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