New Delhi:
The action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during searches conducted by the ED’s Kolkata Zonal Office in connection with an FIR registered by the Cyber Police in Bidhannagar, West Bengal. The FIR pertains to alleged dishonest financial dealings, unlawful collection of money and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress.
According to the ED, its investigation has so far found that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from AITC bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its related entity, largely between April 2023 and June 2026.
The agency alleged that Carewell Aviation subsequently routed Rs 82.96 crore to another newly incorporated related entity for the purchase of an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter. Of the total, Rs 112 crore was used for the purchases, while USD 1.7 million was arranged as an unsecured loan in 2023 from a Cayman Islands-based entity to facilitate the helicopter acquisition.
The ED further alleged that the aircraft and helicopter were subsequently rented out to the Trinamool Congress itself despite being purchased from funds originating from the party’s corpus. It said substantial sums were thereafter transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage and described the arrangement as “dubious”, adding that the investigation is aimed at ascertaining the actual beneficial purpose of the transactions.
It is understood that senior TMC leaders are likely to be called for questioning in the coming weeks by ED .