The Supreme Court questioned the West Bengal government regarding its objection to the maintainability of the Enforcement Directorate's plea concerning alleged obstruction by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a raid, focusing on the fundamental rights of ED officers.
During the raids, Rs 53 lakh, $1,900, about 540 grams of gold and bullion and 1.5 kg of gold jewellery were seized, sources in agency said and added that one of the locations searched was a house in south Delhi where Lalu Prasad Yadav's son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was present.
The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern over the Enforcement Directorate's allegations of obstruction by the West Bengal government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during raids related to a coal-pilferage scam. The court intends to examine the matter and has also taken note of the commotion at the Calcutta High Court during hearings related to the case.
The raid by the ED, which is probing the money trail of the school jobs scam, was conducted late Thursday evening, an official of the agency said.
Countrywide raids are being conducted in connection with a money laundering case linked to a fertiliser scam.
Turning her guns on the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged that the BJP had "stolen" the mandate in Maharashtra with the poll panel's help and was now attempting to replicate it in Bengal through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise by deleting genuine voters' names.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted fresh searches against entities being probed in connection with the money laundering case against Kolkata-based real estate company Merlin Group and others. The action follows previous raids on April 8 and focuses on alleged financial links between the company and West Bengal politicians and officials.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out simultaneous raids at the houses of around a dozen people, including two ministers, in connection with its investigation into the teacher recruitment scam and seized huge amounts of cash.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating a Kolkata-based realty company, Merlin Group, for alleged financial links to West Bengal politicians and officials as part of a money laundering probe, seizing digital devices and documents during raids.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted fresh searches on the Merlin Group, a Kolkata-based real estate company, as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation. The searches follow previous raids on the group and its promoters, with the ED investigating alleged financial links between the company and West Bengal government officials.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted raids against arrested Delhi minister Satyendar Jain as part of a money-laundering probe linked to an alleged hawala dealings case being conducted against him, officials said.
Former West Bengal minister Sujit Bose has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged municipality recruitment scam.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted fresh searches against former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee and others as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged teachers recruitment scam.
The BJP has criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, calling her a 'symbol of anarchy' after the Supreme Court questioned her actions during an ED search. The party claims her 'jungle raj' will end with the TMC's defeat in the upcoming assembly polls.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided a dozen locations including the head office of the Congress party-owned National Herald newspaper in New Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering probe, officials said.
West Bengal minister Chandranath Sinha was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for nearly nine hours in connection with the alleged primary school teacher recruitment scam.
The TMC has dismissed reports of I-PAC suspending operations in West Bengal, accusing the BJP of conspiring to disrupt the party's election campaign through intimidation. Mamata Banerjee has offered jobs to I-PAC employees if they are forced out.
The case pertains to the Andaman Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCB) and its former vice chairman Kuldeep Rai Sharma. Sharma, a 57-year-old Congress leader, is a former MP of the UT (2019-24).
The agency seized documents like answer sheets, OMR codes, hand-written notes related to IDs and names of candidates apart from their education certificates, the sources said.
In her third letter to Kumar since the SIR began, Banerjee accused the Election Commission of political bias, insensitivity, and high-handedness during the exercise.
The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.
The BJP has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of using 'victim card' politics to gain sympathy during the assembly elections, dismissing claims of threats to her life as a political strategy.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation. The action comes after the Madras High Court allowed the ED to proceed against Martin following a police decision to close the initial FIR against him.
The PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, called the raids a gimmick and an attempt to divert attention from the farmers' issue.
Meanwhile, ED officers faced resistance again during the arrest of TMC leader and former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The ED sealed the house and put up a notice summoning Sheikh to appear in person before its sleuths for questioning by January 29 in connection with its probe into the ration distribution scam, an officer said.
Enforcement Directorate officials who recovered over Rs 17 crore from the residence of a businessman in Kolkata, found 10 trunks on the spot.
The federal agency alleged in a statement that it has "found" documents related to about half-a-dozen houses, flats and a farmhouse owned by the doctor couple during searches conducted against them and their "close relatives" on September 6 at seven locations in Kolkata.
The raids continued for nearly seven hours during which the ED sleuths seized a number of documents.
Former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday midnight in connection with an alleged ration scam case.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached over a dozen properties worth Rs 12.78 crore of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh including bank deposits, an apartment, and agricultural and fishery land in Sandeshkhali and Kolkata in West Bengal.
The CBI during its probe got inputs of a large cache of arms hidden in Sandeshkhali. On Friday morning, a CBI team started a search operation during which the arms, including foreign-made pistols, were seized, the officials said.
The home ministry also asked the state government to send details of the action taken following the attacks on the central probe agency teams, the sources said.
Besides Baksh Molla, the CBI also arrested Jaiuddin Molla, the Panchayat Pradhan of Sarberia village, and another person Faruk Akunji.
CBI sleuths conducted raids at three houses of Ghatak in Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district and one in Lake Gardens area of Kolkata.
The charge sheet has been filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi and the court has listed the matter to be heard on January 16, the sources said.
Soon after coming out of the ED office in Kolkata, Banerjee said the interrogation was an effort to prevent him from participating in the INDIA meet and a testimony to the vital role TMC is playing in forging the opposition unity.
The raids were conducted on Wednesday evening to Thursday morning, he said. There was no objection to the raids by Hossain, a two-time TMC MLA and a businessman.
The ED had launched raids on Friday at multiple locations linked to Prasad's family members including that of his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in Delhi.
A whopping Rs 62,476 crore has been "illegally" transferred by smartphone maker Vivo to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India, the Enforcement Directorate said Thursday, as it claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies. This money is almost half of Vivo's turnover of Rs 1,25,185 crore, it said without stating the time period of the transaction. The crackdown on the leading Chinese company came after the federal probe agency found that three Chinese nationals, all of whom "left" India during 2018-21, and one other person from that country incorporated as many as 23 companies in India in which they were also helped by a Chartered Accountant, Nitin Garg.
