Published Apr 02, 2026 | 3:41 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 02, 2026 | 3:41 PM
Enforcement Directorate.
Synopsis: Currently the raids are being conducted in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and home and office premises of Rishi Raj Singh, one of I-PAC’s directors. Further details are awaited.
Enforcement Directorate on Thursday, 2 April, conducted raids at multiple offices and premises related to the political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), in connection to the coal smuggling and pilferage scam in West Bengal.
Currently the raids are being conducted in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and home and office premises of Rishi Raj Singh, one of I-PAC’s directors.
According to a PTI report, the ED conducted raids in this case in January at the I-PAC office as well as at the Kolkata residence of its founder and one of the directors, Pratik Jain. Singh and Jain were also recently summoned by the ED to record their statements.
However, they approached the Delhi High Court to quash these notices issued to them, citing ongoing election work in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Further details are awaited.
According to a Business Today report, ED action against Jain, co-founder of I-PAC and an IIT-Bombay alumnus, was triggered by the emergence of “specific” evidence linking him to hawala transactions and cash deals related to the ongoing coal scam investigation in West Bengal.
Jain is also the head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal.
The ED case is based on a November 2020 FIR filed by the CBI, which alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol. Local coal operator Anup Majhi, alias Lala, is the prime suspect in the case.
The ED earlier questioned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, the 38-year-old nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and claimed that he was a beneficiary of the funds obtained from the illegal coal trade.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Sumit Jha)
