The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said that it had frozen three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The party described the agency’s action as “politically motivated”.

The ED said that it froze the accounts after conducting searches at five premises in and around Kolkata linked to the Carewell Group, an aviation company.

The searches were conducted in connection with an investigation based on a first information report filed by the Bidhannagar Cyber Police in West Bengal. The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities, unlawful collection of money and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the TMC.

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 claimed. It alleged that Rs 112 crore was spent on the purchases.

The agency also claimed that a Cayman Islands-based company provided an unsecured loan of $1.7 million, or approx Rs 14.04 crore, in 2023 to finance the purchase of the helicopter.

The ED alleged that the aircraft and helicopter were later leased to the TMC, even though they had been bought using money transferred from the party’s accounts. It claimed that the party subsequently made substantial payments for using the aircraft.

The TMC condemned the “arbitrary and illegal action” of the ED.

“The misuse of investigative agencies to target political opponents has become a hallmark of the [Bharatiya Janata Party’s] politics,” the party said in a social media post. “[It] represents a serious assault on democratic institutions and the principles of a level playing field.”

It added that all the funds held in its bank accounts had been “fully and transparently disclosed”.

“The party has duly reported all donation transactions to the Election Commission…and the Income Tax Department,” the party said. “These disclosures are published annually on the [Election Commission’s] website and are available in the public domain.”

In May, the BJP came to power in West Bengal, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule.

Written by Tanya Shrivastava. Edited by Sneha.