Trouble mounted for Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mohammed Nadimul Haque on Monday as Enforcement Directorate teams descended on multiple locations linked to him almost simultaneously. From his Urdu newspaper's office and home in Kolkata to his government residence in Delhi, searches were carried out at nearly every address at once.
Simultaneous Searches in Kolkata and Delhi
The Kolkata operation is centred on the office of the Urdu daily Akhbar-e-Mashriq on Dargah Road in the Park Circus area, where Nadimul Haque is said to serve as director. As soon as the search began, central security personnel cordoned off the building and had the main gate shut as a precaution, meaning no one was being allowed to enter or leave the premises during the operation. At the same time, the MP's official government residence in Delhi, which has also served as a makeshift TMC office, was being searched by another team.
Probe Centres on Suspicious Financial Transactions
According to ED sources, the raids are part of a wider investigation into suspicious financial transactions and dealings that are allegedly irregular. The scrutiny is not limited to Nadimul Haque's personal finances; the agency is also examining financial records connected to Akhbar-e-Mashriq itself, going through documents and transaction trails tied to the newspaper's operations.
A Newspaper With Editions Across Seven Cities
Akhbar-e-Mashriq is published not just from Kolkata but also from Delhi, Ranchi, Asansol, Siliguri, Bhopal, Lucknow and Srinagar. Given this spread, the agency is separately examining the financial transactions and paperwork tied to each of these publishing centres to check whether irregularities exist in how funds moved between them.
Case Traces Back to a Bidhannagar FIR
Sources said the ED's Kolkata team launched coordinated searches across several locations tied to the case at the same time. The action is being linked to an ECIR the agency registered on the basis of an FIR filed with the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, and investigators are now trying to match the allegations in that complaint with the financial paper trail being uncovered.
