ED raids Trinamool Rajya Sabha member’s newspaper office, other premises

Kolkata: An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team on Monday began major search operations at the Kolkata office of the Urdu newspaper ‘Akhbar-e-Mashriq’, which is owned by the Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Nadimul Haque.

Sources aware of the development said that besides the main office of ‘Akhbar-e-Mashriq’ at Park Circus in central Kolkata, simultaneous raids and search operations are being conducted at six other locations in Delhi, Ranchi, and Kolkata that are linked to Haque.

The total of the seven locations where the ED raids are being conducted since Monday morning also included the residence of the Trinamool MP at Darga Road in south Kolkata. ED officials have also reportedly reached the residence of Haque’s son-in-law.

Besides Kolkata, ‘Akhbar-e-Mashriq’ has editions from Delhi, Ranchi, Asansol, Siliguri, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Srinagar.

Although ED officials have remained tight-lipped over the details behind the raid, as per preliminary information available, it is in relation to alleged illegal transactions carried out through the bank accounts of the media entity.

The financial probe agency has come to investigate allegations of financial transactions in the newspaper’s bank account, for which no correspondence has been found. It is learnt that the investigating officials have detected serious irregularities in the accounts of the media entity, hinting at money laundering.

The ED, sources said, had decided to interrogate Haque, his family members and the other directors of the media entity in this connection.

On early Monday, the ED officials, accompanied by a contingent of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel, arrived at ‘Akhbar-e-Mashriq’s Park Circus office. While the ED officials, along with some CAPF personnel, entered the office premises, the other CAPF personnel surrounded the office.

The office’s main entrance was locked to prevent anyone from getting in or coming out of the office. The raids and search operation were ongoing, and as indicated by sources, this operation might be continued for quite some time.

Haque had been a Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member since April 2012.

IANS