ED freezes TMC bank deposits worth Rs 440 crore under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate has issued orders to freeze the TMC's bank deposits worth Rs 440 crore under the anti-money laundering law, following searches in a funds misappropriation case, officials said on Wednesday. The orders were issued under Section 17 (1-A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The amount of Rs 440.42 crore is held in three private bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress, the officials said.
The money laundering investigation stems from an FIR registered by the West Bengal Police following a complaint filed in June. The complaint alleged that proceeds from a major cyber fraud had been transferred into certain TMC bank accounts. Soon after the FIR was lodged, the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate froze debit transactions from three party accounts, prompting TMC chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to move the Calcutta High Court seeking relief. The ED subsequently took over the case under the PMLA.
The agency is currently scrutinising at least 18 TMC bank accounts along with financial dealings involving Carewell Travels, Windborne Aviation and Anita Tours. On Tuesday, it carried out searches at five locations in Kolkata linked to the Carewell Group of Companies, including the offices of Carewell Travels, an electoral trust and a chartered accountant. During the searches, officials seized documents and electronic devices. According to sources, the ED suspects that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from TMC accounts to Carewell Aviation India and another related company between April 2023 and June 2026. Carewell Aviation Pvt Ltd further routed an amount of Rs 82.96 crore (2023–2026) to another newly incorporated related entity, they said. The agency is also looking into the acquisition of aircraft by Carewell Aviation between 2023 and 2026 and whether those purchases were linked to the suspected financial transactions. 
Taking note of personal difficulty expressed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Bidhannagar police in this matter, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya adjourned the hearing until Thursday. On July 2, the Calcutta High Court, while hearing a petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC challenging the debit freeze of the party's bank accounts, directed the private bank authorities to disclose the corpus held in those accounts. There was no immediate response from the Trinamool Congress.