Court sends I-PAC director Chandel to 10 days ED custody
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New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court sent I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel to ten days of ED custody following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, officials said on Tuesday.
In a major action weeks ahead of the West Bengal Assembly Polls, the federal probe agency late Monday evening arrested Chandel after questioning. He is a law graduate from NLIU Bhopal and a 33 per cent shareholder of I-PAC.
ED officials said Chandel was arrested in a fresh case filed after taking cognisance of a Delhi Police FIR that involves the Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd (I-PAC). This case is "linked" to the coal scam probe, they said.
I-PAC has been providing political consultancy to the TMC and the West Bengal government since 2021. It has many other political parties as clients.
There was no immediate reaction from I-PAC on the latest development.
In January, the ED raided the I-PAC office in Kolkata and premise of another director and co-founder, Pratik Jain, as part of its probe into the alleged coal scam case in West Bengal based on a CBI FIR.
Late Monday night, Chandel was produced before Additional Sessions Judge (Patiala House Courts) Shefali Barnala Tandon. The court sent him to 10 days of ED custody.
Chandel's premises in Delhi, apart from that of another I-PAC co-founder and director, Rishi Raj Singh, in Bengaluru and that of former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in-charge Vijay Nair in Mumbai, were raided by the ED on April 2 as part of this investigation.
The ED said it has come across "multiple" instances of alleged financial irregularities and various modes of "money laundering" by I-PAC, including receipt of accounted and unaccounted funds, receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, issuance of bogus bills and invoices, receipt of funds from third parties, and movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala.
It claimed I-PAC was involved in laundering proceeds of crime of about Rs 50 crore.
According to the pertinent law, directors of a company are liable where the offence has been committed with their consent, connivance or attributable neglect, the ED said.
Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), in a post on X late Monday night, said Chandel's arrest barely 10 days before the Bengal election, is not just alarming, but shakes the very idea of a level playing field.
On January 8, the federal probe agency raided I-Pac office and the Kolkata residence of Pratik Jain in the coal "scam" case.
In a quick follow-up, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee landed at the raided location along with state government officials and took away certain crucial documents.
The ED said its searches against I-PAC and Jain in Kolkata were "obstructed" by Banerjee, claiming relevant documents and gadgets were forcibly taken away by her and the state administration.
The chief minister and the TMC countered these allegations, saying said the ED was attempting to take its election-strategy-related documents from I-PAC premises just before the assembly polls in the state.
West Bengal will have a two-phase poll on April 23 and April 29.
The ED sought a CBI probe into this "gross abuse of power" by the chief minister from the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing the case.
The ED's coal "scam" case stems from a November 2020 FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that has alleged a multi-crore-rupee coal-pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in West Bengal's Kunustoria and Kajora areas, in and around Asansol.
The ED said in a statement that a "hawala" operator linked to this alleged coal-smuggling ring had facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Private Limited, the registered company of I-PAC.
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Stark reality of 'Viksit Bharat': Rahul slams govt over Noida workers' protest
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New Delhi (PTI): A day after the workers' protest turned violent in Noida, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said what unfolded on the streets was the "final cry" of this nation's workers and said the burden of US tariff wars, global inflation and fractured supply chains has not fallen upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "industrialist friends" but squarely upon the daily-wage labourer.
The Leader of Opposition said he stands with every worker who is the backbone of this country, and whom the Modi government has "come to view as a burden".
"What unfolded on the streets of Noida yesterday was the final cry of this nation's workers - a voice that went unheard at every turn, a voice weary from ceaseless pleading," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
A labourer working in Noida earns a monthly wage of Rs 12,000, yet faces a monthly rent burden of Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000, the former Congress chief said.
By the time they receive a meager annual increment of Rs 300, their landlord has already hiked the rent by Rs 500, he pointed out.
"Before their wages can catch up, this unbridled inflation strangles life, plunging them into the depths of debt- this is the stark reality of 'Viksit Bharat'," Gandhi said.
"As one female worker remarked, 'Gas prices keep rising, but our wages do not'. In the midst of this gas crisis, these individuals have likely had to purchase a single cylinder for as much as Rs 5,000 just to keep the stoves in their homes burning," Gandhi said.
This is not merely an issue confined to Noida, nor is it an issue unique to India alone, fuel prices are skyrocketing across the globe and supply chains have been disrupted due to the conflict in West Asia, he said.
"However, the burden of America's tariff wars, global inflation, and fractured supply chains has not fallen upon Modi Ji's 'industrialist friends'. The heaviest blow has landed squarely upon the daily-wage labourer - the one who must earn each day just to eat that same day," Gandhi said.
"The labourer who played no part in any war, who drafted no policies, who simply did his work. Silently. Without complaint. And what does he receive in return when he demands his rightful dues? Coercion and oppression," the Congress leader said.
Another critical issue is that the Modi government, in a hasty and unilateral move, implemented four new Labour Codes effective November 2025, thereby extending the standard workday to 12 hours, he said.
"Is the demand of a labourer, who stands and works for 12 hours every single day, yet still has to borrow money to pay his children's school fees, truly unreasonable? And is the one who systematically denies him his rights each day truly delivering 'development'?" Gandhi said.
Noting that labourers of Noida are demanding a wage of Rs 20,000, Gandhi said this is not greed, it is his right, the sole foundation of his life.
"I stand with every worker who is the backbone of this country, and whom this government has come to view as a burden," Gandhi said.
Vehicles, including police SUVs, were torched, public property vandalised, and stone-pelting reported from industrial hubs in Noida on Monday as protests by factory workers demanding a wage hike turned violent, paralysing traffic.
The Uttar Pradesh Police used mild force to disperse the agitators and later registered FIRs against two X handles, charging them with spreading rumours linked to the unrest. The state government also formed a special panel to address the crisis.
Violence was first reported in the afternoon, with sporadic stone-pelting and vandalism continuing till 5 pm. No major incidents of arson or violence were reported thereafter, officials said.
The unrest, which began in the morning, left thousands of commuters stranded on key routes leading to Delhi during peak hours. Long queues of vehicles stretching several kilometres were reported at the Delhi-Noida border, with major congestion at Sector 62, National Highway-24, Sector 63 and the Chilla border. Protesters blocked key routes, including stretches connecting Sector 62 to Sector 16 and NH-9.
Officials said a large number of workers from industrial units in Phase-2 and Sector 60 gathered to press for long-pending wage revision demands and raised slogans.
Similar protests were reported from Sector 62 and Sector 84, including at a Motherson company unit. NH-9, a key link between Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, was also blocked.
The protests soon escalated, with some protesters torching vehicles, vandalising property and pelting stones.
Officials said workers had been mobilising support for their demands on a wage hike and better working conditions in factories over the last two days. However, it was not clear what sparked the violence during the protest.
Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh on Tuesday said that more than 300 individuals had been arrested and seven FIRs registered in connection with the workers' protest that turned violent in Noida.
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