A special court in Delhi remanded I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel to 10 days of Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody following his arrest in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal, officials said on Tuesday.
Chandel was taken into custody late on Monday after prolonged questioning and was produced before a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which granted the ED’s request for custodial interrogation.
The arrest comes weeks ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, with polling scheduled in two phases on April 23 and April 29.
According to officials, the case pertains to alleged irregularities in coal mining operations in the State.
The ED action follows earlier searches conducted on April 2 at premises linked to Chandel in Delhi, I-PAC co-founder Rishi Raj Singh in Bengaluru, and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in-charge Vijay Nair in Mumbai.
The agency had also carried out searches on January 8 at the I-PAC office and the Kolkata residence of its founder and director, Pratik Jain.
The operation had triggered a political controversy after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the premises along with State officials and took away certain documents.
The ED had alleged that its search operation was “obstructed” and that relevant documents and electronic devices were forcibly removed. The State government and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), however, denied the charges, accusing the agency of attempting to access election strategy-related material ahead of the polls.
The ED has approached the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into what it termed a “gross abuse of power” during the search operation. The matter is currently under consideration.
The PMLA case originates from a November 2020 FIR filed by the CBI, which alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam involving Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in the Kunustoria and Kajora areas near Asansol.
The ED has claimed that a hawala operator linked to the alleged coal-smuggling network facilitated transactions amounting to tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Private Limited, the company associated with I-PAC.
Reacting to the arrest, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on social media, “The arrest of Vinesh Chandel, co-founder of I-PAC, barely 10 days before the Bengal elections, is not just alarming - it shakes the very idea of a level playing field.”
There was no immediate response from I-PAC on the development.
(With inputs from PTI)
