I-PAC director Vinesh Chandel sent to ED custody for 10 days in West Bengal coal scam case

A Delhi court on Tuesday remanded Vinesh Chandel, director of political consultancy I-PAC, to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate for 10 days in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal smuggling operation in West Bengal, Bar and Bench reported.

Chandel was arrested by the central agency on Monday night and produced before Additional Sessions Judge Shefali Barnala Tandon of the Patiala House Court shortly after. The hearing continued till early hours of Tuesday.

In a 24-page order, Tandon said that Chandel’s custody was required to “unearth further proceeds of the crime and identify the complete modus operandi related to the offence”, including other beneficiaries and accomplices, the Hindustan Times reported.

The judge said that the accused was evasive during the investigation and may tamper with evidence.

I-PAC, or the Indian Political Action Committee, has managed the Trinamool Congress’ election campaigns, including the 2021 Assembly elections, and is managing the party’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls.

The polls will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.

On April 2, the ED had searched Chandel’s residence in Delhi, as well as the premises of another I-PAC director, Rishi Raj Singh, in Bengaluru and former Aam Aadmi Party communications in-charge Vijay Nair in Mumbai, among others, as part of the investigation.

The agency’s case stems from a November 2020 first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation about an alleged coal smuggling syndicate that was used to “steal and illegally excavate coal from [Eastern Coalfields Limited] leasehold areas in West Bengal”.

The ED has alleged that a hawala operator linked to the network facilitated transactions worth tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Private Limited, the registered entity of I-PAC, PTI reported.

The central agency had also conducted searches on January 8 at the political consultancy’s office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area, the home of its head Pratik Jain and the office of a trader in the city’s Posta neighbourhood as part of the investigation into alleged money laundering.

The January searches led to a political dispute after Mamata Banerjee arrived at Jain’s home around noon while the search was underway and stayed for about 20 to 25 minutes. She then came out with a file and claimed that the central agency’s officials were “taking away” party documents ahead of the Assembly polls.

After the raids, the Trinamool Congress and I-PAC had moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging the legality of the searches. The central agency also approached the High Court, alleging “illegal interference” in its work.

The Enforcement Directorate’s petition in the Supreme Court was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, which grants individuals the right to move the top court for enforcement of their fundamental rights.

In its order on Monday, the court said that Chandel had used hawala channels for the movement of funds the company generated and “allowed utilisation of unaccounted cash/informal transfers outside the banking system”, the Hindustan Times reported.

He also made false statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by denying the existence of cash transactions and misrepresented that the company dealt exclusively with political parties, the judge added.

“…whereas investigation has revealed transactions with multiple third-party entities without any legitimate business purpose, thereby deliberately misleading the investigation,” the newspaper quoted Tandon as saying.

The accused has also “deliberately attempted to destroy material evidence and obstruct” the course of the investigation, the judge said.

Later on Monday, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee criticised Chandel’s arrest, saying it “shakes the very idea of a level playing field”.

“At a time when West Bengal should be moving toward free and fair elections, this kind of action sends a chilling message: If you work with the opposition, you could be next,” he said on social media. “That’s not democracy-that’s intimidation!”