Big blow to Mamata Banerjee. Calcutta HC refuses to unfreeze TMC’s ₹440 crore bank accounts.
The All India Trinamool Congress(TMC) has suffered a legal setback. The Calcutta High Court on Monday declined to unfreeze three bank accounts of the TMC that were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
The ED froze the three bank accounts of the TMC with balances amounting to Rs 440.42 crore in connection with its probe. An FIR was lodged by the state police in alleged dishonest financial dealings, unlawful collection of money, and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the party. According to officials, the ED’s preliminary investigation found that about Rs 160 crore was transferred from the TMC’s bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. It is alleged that the company further routed Rs 82.96 crore to its related entity between April 2023 and June 2026. Out of this, Rs 112 crore was used for purchasing an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet and an AgustaWestland 109SP helicopter.
Earlier, the second bench of the Calcutta High Court granted temporary permission to use the three frozen bank accounts subject to certain conditions. The court then said that the evidence based on which the police had frozen the accounts was not satisfactory at the moment. However, the party will be able to use these accounts only for daily essential expenses and the court also appointed a special officer for this purpose.
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