Rs 440 crore TMC account freeze: Calcutta high court allows withdrawals for routine expenses, puts every cheque under judicial watch
Times of India | 9 July 2026
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Thursday appointed retired judge Justice Subrata Talukdar as a special officer to oversee the day-to-day expenses of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) from three bank accounts that were frozen as part of a money laundering probe.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya allowed the TMC to access funds from the debit-frozen accounts only for routine party expenses and legal costs till September 30, 2026. The special officer, who will receive an honorarium of Rs 1.25 lakh per month, will supervise all withdrawals and submit an expenditure report to the court at the next hearing.
The court directed that any two authorised signatories of the three accounts present cheques before the special officer, who will then forward them to the bank for encashment. It also ordered the bank to preserve all electronic records and banking data related to the accounts and cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
The matter will next be heard on September 21, when the police are expected to submit a progress report on the investigation.
The three accounts were frozen on June 19, a day after an FIR was registered by the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station following a complaint from a rival TMC faction led by MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha. The complainants alleged the accounts contained proceeds of crime.
The high court also noted that the dispute over which faction is entitled to official recognition as the Trinamool Congress is pending before the Election Commission. It directed that any decision by the poll body be placed before the court, which may then review its interim order.
Appearing for the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the complaint was filed with the "oblique motive" of crippling the party after the West Bengal Assembly election results. He also pointed out that the complainants themselves had received election funds from the same bank accounts while contesting on TMC tickets.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the investigating agency, defended the freezing of the accounts, saying prompt action was necessary to prevent possible illegal transactions. He also told the court that the dispute over the official TMC faction must be decided by the Election Commission.
The order comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate asked HDFC Bank to freeze Rs 440.4 crore lying in the three TMC accounts as part of its investigation into the alleged laundering of around Rs 160 crore through Kolkata-based Carewell Aviation.
The ED has alleged that the funds were used to purchase an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta helicopter worth Rs 112 crore, which were later rented to the TMC despite allegedly being bought using party funds. The agency has also claimed that an unsecured loan of $1.7 million from a Cayman Islands entity was arranged in 2023 to facilitate the helicopter purchase.
Calling the action "politically motivated, illegal and arbitrary", the TMC said all funds in the accounts had been transparently disclosed to the Election Commission and the Income Tax Department. The party accused the BJP-led Centre of misusing central investigative agencies to target political opponents.