The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches on the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director, Pratik Jain, in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said, as reported by PTI.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that ED officials were trying to seize the Trinamool Congress’s hard disks, internal documents and sensitive organisational data during a search at the residence of I-PAC chief Prateek Jain.
Here's what Mamata Banerjee said
PTI reported, Banerjee made the allegations after appearing from Jain’s Loudon Street residence, where searches have been underway since Thursday morning.
As reported by PTI, West Bengal CM visited I-PAC Director Prateek Jain’s residence after an ED raid and said, “Is it the duty of Home Minister Amit Shah and the ED to take away all my party documents? If I go to the BJP party office, what will be the result? Under the SIR, 5 lakh names have been deleted. Just because there is an election, they are taking away all my party’s documents.”
She termed the raid politically motivated and unconstitutional.
Jain is the co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, according to sources who spoke to PTI. He is also the head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal.
I-PAC was founded by Prashant Kishor and had served as an election consultant to the Trinamool Congress, playing a key role in the party’s victory in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Search operations were also being conducted at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the consultancy firm Jain heads.
Claiming that the ED was trying to access the ruling party’s internal strategy, candidate lists and confidential digital material, Banerjee said such information had no link to any financial probe, PTI reported.
“They are trying to take our party’s hard disk, strategy and plans. Is it the duty of the ED to collect political parties’ documents?” the chief minister asked, launching a sharp attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Calling the exercise an act of intimidation, Banerjee said, “This is not law enforcement, this is political vendetta. The home minister is behaving like the nastiest home minister, not someone who protects the country.”
The exact nature of the searches and details of the case being probed were not immediately clear. There was no official statement from the ED or the I-PAC till the filing of this report.
(This is a developing story; check later for updates)
