The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at multiple locations linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata on Thursday morning, including its Salt Lake office and the residence of the firm’s head, Pratik Jain.
Jain was present at his fourth-floor residence when the search began and was questioned by ED officials. Around noon, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited his residence.
According to sources, the searches were carried out simultaneously at I-PAC’s office located on the 11th floor of a building in Salt Lake, Jain’s residence on Loudon Street, and the office of a trader in the Posta area of Burrabazar. The raids began early in the day and were ongoing at the time of reporting.
I-PAC, founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has been associated with the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal government since the 2019 general elections.
Although Kishor has since entered full-time politics, the consultancy played a key role in Trinamool Congress’s electoral successes, including its decisive victory in the 2021 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Sources indicated that the ED action is linked to an ongoing investigation into an alleged coal smuggling case. Over the past few years, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee has been questioned multiple times by both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case.
The raids come at a politically sensitive time, with West Bengal heading toward Assembly elections in the coming months and the BJP positioned as the principal opposition. According to media reports, Abhishek Banerjee has consistently maintained that despite allegations and investigations by central agencies against party leaders, the Trinamool Congress will retain power for a fourth consecutive term.
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