Updates in the Enforcement Directorate's raids on I-PAC, the Trinamool Congress consultancy firm, reveal a ₹10 crore hawala network linked to coal smuggling. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's intervention continues to fuel controversy, with dueling court petitions and accusations of obstruction in West Bengal.
Following the January 8, 2026, ED searches at I-PAC's Kolkata office and director Pratik Jain's residence—where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intervened to retrieve party documents—the probe has expanded. Raids hit 10 locations, including six in West Bengal and four in Delhi, tied to a money-laundering investigation from a 2020 CBI FIR on coal smuggling by Anup Majhi alias Lala in Paschim Bardhaman.
Investigators uncovered a hawala network that routed approximately ₹10 crore to I-PAC for its 2022 Goa assembly election operations managed for the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Banerjee, accompanied by Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and Principal Secretary Manoj Pant, faced accusations of misconduct. A former senior officer labeled it 'gross misconduct,' arguing bureaucrats had no role in a central agency's operation. BJP's Jagannath Chattopadhyay accused the government of blurring politics and administration, while CPI(M)'s Sujan Chakraborty called the bureaucrats' involvement a 'friendly match' between state and Centre. Banerjee defended acting as TMC chairperson to safeguard party strategies led by Jain, an IIT Bombay alumnus who took over I-PAC's Bengal operations after Prashant Kishor's 2021 exit.
Legal battles intensified: ED and TMC filed Calcutta High Court petitions for document returns, adjourned to January 14 amid chaos. ED plans a Supreme Court plea alleging PMLA Section 17 violations, including officer obstruction and evidence tampering, and seeks a CBI probe into Banerjee and police. The state filed a Supreme Court caveat; Kolkata police lodged FIRs against ED and CAPF for trespass and theft.
