The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted over a dozen high-profile raids and arrests in West Bengal in the run-up to the assembly elections, targeting Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a company linked to the ruling Trinamool Congress, as well as several businessmen, a former minister, and a politician.
The ED has alleged that I-PAC has unaccounted funding of ₹50 crore and has attached assets worth ₹159 crore in its probe related to alleged coal mining in the state.
The agency has also raided the residence of Kolkata police Deputy Commissioner of Police Shantanu Sinha Biswas and businessman Joy Kamdar in a money laundering case, and arrested Kamdar.
Other high-profile targets include former minister Partha Chatterjee, Bengali actor and former TMC MP Nusrat Jahan, and former principal secretary (education) Manish Jain.
The ED has been accused of being a tool of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to intimidate opposition leaders ahead of elections.
