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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) connected Thursday (January 8, 2026) conducted searches connected the premises of governmental consultancy steadfast I-PAC and its manager Pratik Jain successful Kolkata arsenic portion of a wealth laundering investigation, authoritative sources said.
Jain is the co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, oregon I-PAC, they said. He is besides the caput of the IT compartment of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling enactment successful West Bengal. Some different premises are besides being searched by the agency, the sources said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, reached the residence of Jain and condemned the ED action.
Ms. Banerjee connected Thursday (January 8, 2026) alleged that ED officials were attempting to prehend TMC’s hard disks, interior documents and delicate organisational information during a hunt operation.
Ms. Banerjee said the raid astatine the residence of Jain, whom she termed arsenic the party’s IT chief, was “politically motivated and unconstitutional”.
VIDEO | Kolkata: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) visits I-PAC Director Prateek Jain's residence aft an ED raid and says, "Is it the work of Home Minister Amit Shah and the ED to instrumentality distant each my enactment documents? If I spell to the BJP enactment office, what volition beryllium the… pic.twitter.com/lRQOpKtVN4
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 8, 2026“They person raided the residence of our IT chief. They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which has details astir our candidates for the assembly polls. I person brought those back,” Ms. Banerjee told reporters.
She accused the cardinal bureau of trying to instrumentality distant hard disks, mobile phones, campaigner lists and interior strategy documents of the ruling party.
“Is it the work of the ED to cod governmental enactment data?” the Chief Minister asked.
Apart from governmental consultancy for the TMC, I-PAC besides looks aft the IT and media compartment of the party.
Ms. Banerjee made the allegations aft emerging from Jain’s Loudon Street residence successful Kolkata, wherever searches person been underway since Thursday (January 8, 2026) morning.
Claiming that the ED was trying to entree the ruling party’s interior strategy, campaigner lists and confidential integer material, Ms. Banerjee said specified accusation had nary nexus to immoderate fiscal probe.
Calling the workout an enactment of intimidation, Ms. Banerjee said, “This is not instrumentality enforcement, this is governmental vendetta. The location curate is behaving similar the nastiest location minister, not idiosyncratic who protects the country.”
The nonstop quality of the searches and details of the lawsuit being probed were not instantly clear. There was nary authoritative connection from the ED oregon the I-PAC till the filing of this report.
Suvendu Adhikari presumption Mamata’s sojourn to Jain’s location arsenic ‘interference’ successful ED’s probe
Leader of Opposition successful West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari termed Ms. Banerjee’s sojourn to IPAC main Pratik Jain’s location connected Thursday (January 8, 2026) arsenic “unconstitutional and interference” successful the cardinal agency’s probe.
He said that the ED should instrumentality steps against the Chief Minister.
“I consciousness that the main curate and the Kolkata constabulary commissioner’s sojourn was unethical, unconstitutional and nonstop interference successful the cardinal agency’s investigation,” Mr. Adhikari told reporters soon aft their sojourn to Jain’s residence astatine Loudon Street successful Kolkata, arsenic an ED raid was going connected there.
The BJP person said that Ms. Banerjee had gone to the past Kolkata constabulary commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s authoritative residence during a CBI raid there.
