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- Bengal Election ED Arrests I PAC Director Vinesh Chandel 10 Days Before Polls | TMC
New Delhi/Kolkata58 minutes ago
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After the arrest, ED presented Vinesh Chandel before the judge in Delhi and asked for custody.
10 days before the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested I-PAC director and co-founder Vinesh Chandel. He was caught in Delhi on Monday evening in a money laundering case related to the coal scam.
This action of ED has come at a time when assembly elections are to be held in West Bengal in two phases on 23 and 29 April. Political consultancy firm I-PAC formulates election strategy for Mamata Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on social media that this action taken 10 days before the elections raises questions on fair elections. He alleges that the actions of the Election Commission and agencies like ED, NIA, CBI at sensitive times like elections create an atmosphere of fear, not impartiality.
Banerjee said- Amit Shah and BJP, along with Gyanesh Kumar and all their agencies, should come to Bengal on 4-5 May. Bengal will neither be afraid, nor remain silent nor bow down. Here pressure is responded to with resistance.
April 2: ED raids Chandel’s premises
Apart from the locations of Vinesh Chandel in Delhi, the investigating agency also raided the locations of I-PAC’s second co-founder and director Rishi Raj Singh in Bengaluru and former communication in-charge of Aam Aadmi Party Vijay Nair in Mumbai.
Vinesh Chandel is one of the key faces of I-PAC and is among the founders of this political consultancy firm. He laid the foundation of this company along with Prashant Kishore, Prateek Jain and Rishiraj Singh.
Now understand the whole matter
On January 8, the ED team had raided Prateek Jain’s house at Gulaudan Street in Kolkata and the other team had raided the office at Salt Lake. It is Prateek Jain who prepares the political strategy for Mamata Banerjee.
The action started at 6 am, but the matter escalated after around 11:30 am. First of all, Kolkata Police Commissioner reached Prateek’s residence. After some time, CM Mamata Banerjee herself reached his house on Loudon Street.
Mamta stayed there for some time. When she came out, she saw a green file in her hand. After this she also went to I-PAC office. He had said- Home Minister is getting the documents of my party collected. ED said that raids were conducted at 6 locations in West Bengal and 4 locations in Delhi.
Mamta had reached the house of I-PAC director Prateek Jain at 12 noon on 8 January.
CM Mamta had gone away with the files during the raid
During the search operation, CM Mamata Banerjee along with other TMC leaders reached the I-PAC office. After this there was a lot of uproar. Mamta came out of the office carrying many files and talked to the media. The Chief Minister accused the central agency of excessive interference.
The party has also alleged that I-PAC worked as the party’s election strategist and that just before the assembly elections, the ED conducted the raid to obtain information related to confidential election strategy.
The picture is of January 8, when Bengal CM Mamata addressed the media amid the ED raid in Kolkata.
I-PAC Raid case: Money laundering case of Rs 2,742 crore
I-PAC i.e. Indian Political Action Committee is a political consultancy company. It carries out large-scale election campaigns for political parties. The company and its director Prateek Jain are accused of money laundering in the coal theft scam worth crores of rupees. CBI had registered an FIR in this case on 27 November 2020.
The entire case is related to money laundering of ₹2,742 crore. It is alleged that ₹20 crore was transferred to I-PAC through Hawala. ED started its investigation on 28 November 2020. On January 8, 2026, ED raided the house and office of I-PAC and its director Prateek Jain in Kolkata.
ED officers seized many documents from Prateek’s house and office.
ED demands CBI probe into abuse of power
The ED has taken the matter to the Supreme Court and has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged misuse of power by the Chief Minister. This matter is currently pending in the court. The ED had alleged that documents and electronic equipment related to the investigation were taken away in the presence of the state administration, thereby hindering the agency’s action.
Whereas TMC and the state government rejected these allegations and said that ED was trying to obtain documents related to the election strategy of I-PAC before the elections.
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Intervening in I-PAC raid, Supreme Court asked Mamata: What would you have done if you had government at the Centre?
The Supreme Court heard the case of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at the office of I-PAC in West Bengal. The court asked Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal government that if you had a government at the Center and any state took such action, what would be your stand. Read the full news…
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