TMC calls ED searches vendetta, diversion from Delhi building collapse

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of pursuing a “vicious political vendetta” after the agency conducted searches at premises linked to party Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque in connection with a money laundering investigation involving an Urdu newspaper promoted by him.

TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien alleged that the searches were intended to divert public attention from the deaths of students in a building collapse in Delhi. The party also alleged that the ED’s action was politically motivated and amounted to an attempt to target opposition voices and curb media freedom.

According to the TMC, an ED search at the party’s Delhi office, which also serves as Haque’s official residence, was completed in around two hours and ended at about 1 pm. However, the party claimed that officials remained at the premises for nearly another 10 hours, allegedly awaiting further instructions, before leaving after 10 pm.

The party claimed that the officials found nothing significant during the search and took away an old mobile phone, an old iPad and several hard disks containing electoral-roll data. The TMC described the data as publicly available information.

The ED, meanwhile, conducted searches at seven premises across Kolkata, Delhi and Ranchi as part of its money laundering probe into Akhbar-E-Mashriq Private Limited, which publishes the Urdu daily Akhbar-E-Mashriq. Haque, 56, is a director of the company.

The case has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and stems from an FIR lodged by the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, according to ED officials.

Haque was in Ranchi on Monday for a meeting of Parliament’s Government Assurances Committee when the searches were conducted. O’Brien said Haque raised the matter during the meeting, while also accusing the ED of creating an impression in the media that the MP could not be located.

“When the ED was raiding, Nadimul Haque was in Ranchi for the Government Assurances Committee,” O’Brien said, alleging that the agency was simultaneously briefing the media that Haque “can’t be found”.

O’Brien also alleged that ED officials had threatened TMC staff over access to the party’s Delhi office. He claimed that officials warned they would break open the lock if the keys were not provided, as office staff had temporarily left the premises for personal work.

The TMC leader described the searches as a “pure vendetta” and alleged that the action was part of a broader effort to divert attention from the Delhi building collapse and the deaths of students.

He further alleged that Haque was being targeted because he is a Muslim and claimed that the ED action represented systematic targeting of both opposition politicians and the media.

“Nadimul runs eastern India’s biggest Urdu newspaper,” O’Brien said, alleging that the investigation was also an attempt to curtail independent media voices.

The ED’s allegations, however, go beyond the political claims made by the TMC. Agency officials said the probe concerns alleged irregularities involving the newspaper, including the publication and dissemination of material that they claim promoted communal disharmony, unaccounted cash transactions and funding from suspicious sources.

According to the agency, the newspaper allegedly overstated its circulation figures to secure government advertisements. ED officials also alleged that a majority of its funding came from the erstwhile TMC-led West Bengal government through an advertising agency that has links to a Dubai-based entity.

The TMC has rejected the allegations and accused the BJP-led government and central investigative agencies of using the ED to target political opponents.

The developments have intensified the political confrontation between the TMC and the BJP, with the opposition party vowing to challenge what it describes as politically motivated action while the ED continues its investigation into the newspaper and its financial affairs.

With PTI inputs