Kolkata: Placards seen during a protest by members of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her conduct during the ED raids at I-PAC office and the residence of its chief Pratik Jain, in Kolkata, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
On Thursday (January 8, 2025), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the residence of Pratik Jain on Loudon Street in Kolkata, as well as the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), in connection with an alleged coal smuggling case that dates back to a few years.
The raid, triggered a political storm in West Bengal, prompting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to hit the ground leading a protest against the ED raids on I-PAC.
Who is Pratik Jain and why a Chief Minister is supporting him?
An IIT Bombay alumnus, Pratik Jain, is a political strategist and co-founder of I-PAC. He is known for his role in building I-PAC into one of India’s most influential political consulting firms.
Founded in 2015, I-PAC is involved in services such as data-driven campaign management, governance support and voter outreach programmes. Over the years, it has worked with several political parties across India, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.
According to reports, I-PAC works closely with Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his office. The firm is responsible for designing the poll campaigns of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and also manages its IT and media cell. Ms. Banerjee herself said Mr. Jain was head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress.
An engineering graduate from IIT-Bombay, Jain began his career as an analyst in consulting firm Deloitte, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was the founding member of Citizens of Accountable Governance, which eventually became I-PAC. The political consulting firm has worked with several political leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, M.K. Stalin, Jaganmohan Reddy, Uddhav Thackeray, Rahul Gandhi, and Nitish Kumar. The firm worked on several events with Narendra Modi who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat and the campaigns aided in BJP winning a decisive mandate in 2014.
Why is Pratik Jain under ED lens?
The Directorate of Enforcement, in a statement on January 8, said, raids were carried out on 10 premises, six in West Bengal and four in Delhi, as part of a 2020 case registered by the CBI against a coal smuggling syndicate led by Anup Majhi alias ‘Lala’, who allegedly stole and illegally excavated coal from the Eastern Coalfield leasehold areas in and around Asansol in Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district.
Also read: TMC protest in Kolkata updates
A hawala operator linked to coal smuggling facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to the Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd, the registered company of political consultancy firm I-PAC. “I-PAC is also one of the entities linked to Hawala money,” the ED has alleged.
What exactly happened during the ED raids?
The raid quickly escalated into a political drama after Ms. Banerjee visited Mr. Jain’s residence during the operation, alleging that the central agencies were attempting to seize sensitive party-related data. In response, the ED accused her of removing key evidence from both locations.
Enforcement directives: On the ED raids in West Bengal| EDITORIAL
The TMC has also accused the Centre of misusing investigative agencies to intimidate their political opponents ahead of the Assembly elections, a claim that the BJP has consistently rejected.
Political reactions
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday (January 8) alleged that the Central agencies’ action in West Bengal ahead of the election reeked of the BJP’s “desperation.”
The BJP on Friday (January 9, 2026) condemned Ms. Banerjee for her behaviour during the ED raids at a private consultancy firm in Kolkata and alleged that her actions showed she tried to “rescue something sensitive” implicating her and her party in the money laundering case linked to the alleged coal smuggling.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday (January 9, 2026) slammed Ms. Banerjee, for her conduct during the ED raids, stating that her actions were “deeply disturbing” and undermined public respect.
Meanwhile, the ED filed a motion in court alleging obstruction of its investigation. On Friday, the agency’s counsel presented the case to a Bench led by the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, which opted not to intervene. The matter is scheduled for another hearing on January 14.
With PTI and ANI inputs
Published – January 10, 2026 01:59 pm IST
