Hearing a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state officials, the Supreme Court Wednesday pulled up the Trinamool Congress chief, saying “democracy (is put) in peril” if any CM intervenes in a probe.
The reading of the riot act by the Supreme Court follows action by Central investigative agencies, including the ED, in West Bengal, among other Opposition-ruled states, ahead of the recent Assembly elections.
Many cases where the ED has carried out searches, arrests or summons recently date back several years, leading the Opposition to allege a pattern of “selective targeting” ahead of polls.
The ED maintains its actions are evidence-driven and aimed at tackling financial crimes. The agency did not respond to calls, text messages or email queries.
West Bengal
In Bengal, the ED has undertaken close to 20 operations involving searches, arrests, property attachments and interrogations across multiple cases in the past two months. Between March 28 and April 19 alone (23 days), ED has conducted eight search operations involving more than 50 premises spread across six cities, summoned nine people for questioning, and arrested four, all in connection with cases registered in West Bengal.
In many of these cases, the ED has framed its intervention as a step towards “ensuring free, fair and fearless elections” in the state – a framing that has drawn sharp criticism from the TMC.
The most high-profile action has been against I-PAC, the political consultancy firm which has the ruling TMC in Bengal as among its biggest clients. On January 7-8, the ED carried out searches at 10 locations in Kolkata and Delhi, including the residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain, based on what ED sources described as “fresh evidence” in a coal pilferage case which is traced back to a 2020 CBI FIR relating to alleged illegal mining and coal theft from Eastern Coalfields Ltd areas.
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The CM visited Jain along with senior police officials during the raids, alleging overreach by Central agencies and taking away laptops and files– with this visit at the heart of the Supreme Court hearing Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the ED registered a fresh case against I-PAC based on a Delhi Police FIR, stemming from an ED reference alleging that proceeds of crime worth around Rs 50 crore were routed through consultancy and business channels to I-PAC.
This prompted another round of multi-location searches by the ED, followed by the arrest on April 13 of I-PAC Director Vinesh Chandel. Chandel’s assets were subsequently attached while summons were issued to family members of Jain.
While I-PAC has denied reports that it has shut operations, the move has slowed down the firm at a crucial stage of the polls, directly impacting the ruling party’s election machinery.
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Another case with alleged links to the TMC saw a revival on January 3 this year, when the ED attached assets worth Rs 3.65 crore linked to minister Chandranath Sinha in the primary teachers’ recruitment scam. This case has its origins in a CBI FIR filed on Calcutta High Court directions, in connection with which it conducted searches back in March 2024.
Besides action against I-PAC and Sinha, the EC carried out other operations in Bengal between March 20 and April 22:
* Searches at 16 premises linked to Technosolis Informatics Ltd (March 20), with reported seizures of fixed deposits, gold, cryptocurrency and documents amounting allegedly to over Rs 20 crore. The agency explicitly described the action as its “contribution towards ensuring free and fair elections”.
* Raids at eight premises linked to Biswajit Podder alias Sona Pappu (April 9), followed by the arrest of an accused on April 19 and further searches targeting Kolkata Police DCP (Special Branch) Shantanu Sinha Biswas and others. The probe involves allegations ranging from extortion and land-grabbing to money laundering. Here too, the agency claimed its action was a “contribution towards ensuring free, fair and fearless elections” in West Bengal.
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* A fresh raid on April 11 at premises linked to former minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the long-running teacher recruitment scam, signalling expansion of earlier investigations that had already seen large cash recoveries.
* Summons issued on April 22 to actor and former MP Nusrat Jahan in a housing fraud case dating back to 2014-15, alongside questioning of senior bureaucrats in the Education Department over recruitment irregularities;
Summons on April 23 to TMC ministers Sujit Bose and Rathin Ghosh over alleged illegal appointments across multiple municipal bodies since 2014.
* Questioning of TMC heavyweight Rashbehari candidate Debasish Kumar twice, on March 30 and April 3, by the ED in an alleged land grabbing case. On April 17, the Income Tax department conducted raids at Kumar’s premises, over allegations of discrepancies in assets.
Kerala
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In Kerala, searches were carried out in January 2026 across 21 locations in a Sabarimala-linked gold misappropriation case.
The ED is investigating the Karuvannur cooperative bank scam in which several CPI(M) leaders are said to be involved.
In 2025, the ED had sent notices to Kitex Group. Ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, the group’s political outfit, Twenty20, aligned with the BJP; the group has denied its move had anything to do with the ED case.
The ED’s probe into alleged irregularities linked to TASMAC transactions – framed by the Opposition as a Rs 1,000-crore scam – remains stayed by the Supreme Court since May 2025, but has been at the heart of sharp political exchanges.
Punjab
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On April 15, the ED conducted raids at over 10 locations linked to ruling Aam Aadmi Party MP Ashok Kumar Mittal, coinciding with his appointment as the party’s leader in the Upper House. Two days later, premises linked to AAP minister Sanjeev Arora were searched in a FEMA-related probe involving alleged fund round-tripping. Punjab will go to polls next year.
