Calcutta HC refuses to allow TMC to operate bank accounts frozen by ED

The Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to allow the Trinamool Congress to operate three bank accounts frozen by the Enforcement Directorate, Bar and Bench reported.

Justice Krishna Rao, in an interim order, refused to lift the freeze on the TMC’s bank accounts.

The party has approached the High Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate's action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities, unlawful collection of money and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the TMC.

The Kolkata Police froze debit operations on the three accounts on June 19, a day after rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das filed a complaint alleging that funds had been misused. The party has been grappling with factionalism after its loss in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May.

Later, on July 8, the Enforcement Directorate said that it had frozen three bank accounts of the TMC, holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore.

The agency claimed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from the party’s bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Private Limited and a related company between April 2023 and June 2026.

Carewell Aviation then transferred around Rs 83 crore to another related entity, which was used to buy an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter, the agency...

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