Just ten days before the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Vinesh Chandel on Monday. Chandel is the co-founder and director of political consultancy I-PAC, whose clients include the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Chandel was arrested by the ED on Monday night on money laundering charges linked to an alleged coal scam in the state. This arrest comes weeks after the central agency raided his property in Delhi in connection with the charges against him.
However, this is not the first time I-PAC has found itself under the emergency department’s scanner. In January, Prateek Jain, a director of a political consulting firm, was raided by executives in Kolkata. This raid sparked a huge controversy and a Supreme Court case after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed the government officials.
The central agency also accused the TMC of taking crucial evidence from the scene when it stopped the raid.
After the raid on Jain’s home in January, I-PAC said in a statement that its role was limited to transparent and professional political advice, free from the influence of political ideology.
“We believe in this [the raids] It raises serious concerns and sets a worrying precedent. “Regardless, we have provided full cooperation… and handled the process in full compliance and respect for the law,” the statement added.
Why was Chandel arrested?
According to reports, the CEO linked the case against Chandel to an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2020. The police report alleged that coal theft had taken place at Eastern Coalfields Ltd’s mines at Kunustoria and Kagura in West Bengal, in and around Asansol.
The central agency added that the ‘hawala’ linked to the coal smuggling ring helped transfer tens of millions of rupees to I-PAC.
The I-PAC director was confined to the emergency department for 10 days. TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee has also been accused of having links to the coal scam
