ED raids I-PAC office, chief Pratik Jain in West Bengal coal scam case

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at the office of political consultancy firm IPAC and the home of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multicrore rupee coal pilferage scam official sources saidThe IPACrsquos office in Salt Lake and Jainrsquos house on Loudon Street are among about 10 premises including four in Delhi being raided by the federal probe agency since 7 am they saidJain the cofounder and a director of the Indian Political Action Committee IPAC and an IITBombay alumnus is being raided as there is specific evidence against him related to certain hawala transactions and cash deals emanating from the coal scam case in West Bengal the sources saidIPAC chief Pratik JainJain is also the head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress the ruling party in West BengalThe ED case stems from a November 2020 FIR filed by the CBI which alleged a multicrore rupee coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields mines in West Bengalrsquos Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol Local coal operator Anup Majhi alias Lala is the prime suspect in the caseThe ED earlier questioned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee the 38yearold nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and claimed that he was a beneficiary of the fundsMamata BanerjeeFamily alleges theft by EDJainrsquos family filed a police complaint against the ED alleging theft of important documents during a raid at home an officer saidThe search operation which began at 7 am continued for over nine hours an official of the probe agency said adding that ED officials left Jainrsquos residence on Loudon Street in the southern part of the city around 3 pmldquoShortly after that Pratik Jainrsquos wife filed a complaint at Shakespeare Sarani police station alleging theft by the ED It is alleged in the complaint that essential documents were stolen from their home during the raidrdquo a police officer saidlsquoPolitically motivatedrsquoMamata Banerjee reacted sharply to the ED action and reached the residence of Jain in an official convoy terming the raids ldquopolitically motivated and unconstitutionalrdquo ED sources said the action was taken ldquopurely on the merits of the coal scam case and the proceeds of crime linked to it and there was no political anglerdquo to it The officials conducting the searches are seizing specific computer peripherals and documents they addedCondemning the ED action Banerjee said ldquoThey have raided the residence of our IT chief They are confiscating my partyrsquos documents and hard disks which have details about our candidates for the Assembly polls I have brought those backrdquo She also accused the central agency of trying to take away hard disks mobile phones candidate lists and internal strategy documents of the ruling partyFollowing this the ED sought permission from the Calcutta High Court to file a petition alleging interference in its investigation alleging that CM Banerjee entered Jainrsquos residence and took away key evidence including physical documents electronic devicesThe agency further claimed that the CM along with her aides and police personnel also went to the IPAC office from where documents and electronic evidence were forcibly removed IPAC also moved the HC over the central agenciersquos searchesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever