New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has arrested Vinesh Chandel, director of political consultancy firm I-PAC in connection with a case related to alleged illegal mining and transportation of coal in West Bengal, officials said.
Chandel was taken into custody from Delhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced before a court on Tuesday, officials said, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The agency has alleged that nearly Rs 20 crore proceeds of crime generated in the West Bengal coal mining racket were transferred through hawala channels to I-PAC.
The ED had, on April 2, resumed raids on I-PAC, including at Chandel’s residence and that of another director, Rishi Raj Singh. Raids were also conducted at the premises of Vijay Nair, the former communications in-charge of Aam Aadmi Party.
The ED’s investigation into I-PAC’s role in the alleged coal smuggling racket had led to a major legal battle in January this year.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee turned up in person during a raid by the agency at the home and office of another I-PAC director Pratik Jain in Kolkata.
The ED had then accused Mamata of obstructing its searches and removing evidence. The West Bengal CM, on the other hand, alleged that ED was attempting to seize election-strategy-related documents from I-PAC premises just before the assembly elections.
The ED targeted I-PAC, which works with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), to steal the party’s data, Mamata claimed. The matter is now pending before the Supreme Court.
According to officials, the ED’s money laundering probe is based on a 2020 FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the illegal mining of coal at Eastern Coalfields Ltd’s mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in West Bengal.
Even politicians had not been spared. MP and Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had earlier been questioned in the matter.
After the raids on January, I-PAC had issued a statement saying that its role is limited to transparent, professional political consulting, free of influence from political ideology.
“We believe this (the raids) raises serious concerns and sets an unsettling precedent. Regardless, we have extended full cooperation… engaging with the process in complete accordance and respect for the law,” the statement said.
