ED summons I-PAC Bengal chief's relatives to appear before it

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned I-PAC’s Bengal chief, Pratik Jain’s brother Pulkit Jain and and Pratik's wife Barbie Jain to appear before it in New Delhi on Wednesday in relation to the IPAC case. This comes a day after the ED arrested Vinesh Chandel, director of Indian PAC Consulting Pvt. Ltd, on Monday night under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Chandel is the founder, director and holds 33% in I-PAC. I-PAC provides political consultancy to Trinamool Congress.

Chandel was remanded to ten days of ED custody by additional sessions judge, Patiala House Courts, Shefali Barnala Tandon. After the arrest, Vinesh Chandel was produced before court in New Delhi. “The hearing continued from Monday night till the early hours of Tuesday.”

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“ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Delhi police. Investigation conducted so far has revealed multiple instances of financial irregularities and various modes of money laundering by Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd, including receipt of accounted and unaccounted funds, receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, issuance of bogus bills and invoices, receipt of funds from third parties, and movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala,” ED said in a statement.

The investigation has revealed that Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd was involved in laundering proceeds of crime worth many crores. The amount detected so far is about Rs 50 crore, it noted.

“During the investigation, statements of various persons connected with the transactions were recorded. Searches were conducted and incriminating material gathered. The role of Vinesh Chandel has emerged in the offence under investigation. Under the relevant provisions of law, directors of a company are liable where the offence has been committed with their consent, connivance or attributable neglect,” the ED statement said. Further investigation is underway.

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Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee posted on his X handle: “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. At a time when WB 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. That’s not democracy –– that’s intimidation!”