Trinamool’s bank accounts worth Rs 440 crore seized

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized three bank accounts of India's Trinamool Congress under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency said that there was a deposit of Rs 440 crore in these accounts.

In a statement, the ED said that the Trinamool Congress had a total of Rs 440 crore 42 lakh in three HDFC bank accounts. The agency alleged that large-scale suspicious financial transactions were made from party funds. These transactions are being investigated on charges of money laundering and misuse of funds.

There was no immediate response from the political party on this matter.

As part of the investigation into the case, the ED conducted raids at five places in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. It is learned that all the places are related to the 'Carewell Group of Companies' involved in the aviation sector.

According to the investigating agency, preliminary investigations have revealed that between April 2023 and June 2026, about 160 crore rupees were transferred from the Trinamool account to ‘Carewell Aviation India Private Limited’ and another company associated with it.

The agency claims that Carewell Aviation then sent about 82 crore 96 lakh rupees to a newly formed subsidiary of its own.

During the investigation, the ED came to know that a large part of this money was used to purchase Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and Agusta 109 SP helicopters. According to the ED, a total of 112 crore rupees was spent to buy these two aircraft.

The investigating agency also said that some foreign funds were also used to purchase the Agusta helicopters, although the bulk of this money came directly from the Trinamool account.

The Enforcement Directorate is now trying to find out the source of this foreign fund and whether any rules have been violated in it.

The agency said that even after purchasing these aircraft, they were again leased to grassroots and huge amounts of money were transferred again in the name of ‘use’. Officials said that the entire financial structure is highly suspicious. It was probably created with the intention of hiding the real transactions and beneficiaries.

The ED is currently investigating the source of money, use of funds, foreign financing and transactions between the companies involved in the case. The agency said that further action may be taken based on the investigation.