I-T raids at places related to TMC candidate Debasish Kumar, two other
The Statesman | 19 April 2026
The Income Tax department on Friday raided multiple premises including the residence of Trinamul Congress MLA Debasish Kumar as well as the homes and offices of two other leaders of the party, triggering political tension in the Assembly elections.
Kumar is seeking re-election from the Rashbehari constituency.
Sources said officials began the searches early in the morning at Kumar’s residence on Manoharpukur Road in south Kolkata. The TMC candidate was present when the raid started.
Simultaneously, searches are being carried out at his election office located nearby, as well as at a party office on Motilal Nehru Road.
Meanwhile, another team of I-T department officials searched the residence of Trinamul Congress leader Kumar Saha at Kalighat.
The IT officials also reached the Elgin Road residence of local Trinamul leader Miraj Shah, one of the four proposers of the candidature of Trinamul Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee from Bhawanipore.
Meanwhile, several other locations in the city, including Salt Lake and Middleton Street, also witnessed I-T raids during the day.
Central forces have been deployed in strength outside all locations being raided by the I-T sleuths. The exact reason behind the raids was not immediately clear.
The development comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Kumar by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Kumar had been summoned multiple times in connection with a land-grab case and was questioned at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on 1, 3, and 9 April.
After his appearance before the ED, he had refrained from making detailed comments, saying that his party would respond.
Saha, a businessman, is regarded as an influential Trinamul Congress organiser whose services are utilised by the party for gathering crowds at different public programmes of Trinamul Congress in Kolkata. Mr Shah, an educationist and a trustee board member of the Bhawanipur Education Society College, is known in the locality and was personally requested by Banerjee to serve as a proposer.
Political tensions escalated as TMC workers and supporters gathered outside the party office on Motilal Nehru Road as also in front of the residences of both Kumar and Saha and raised slogans.
Raising slogans against BJP candidate Swapan Dasgupta, they alleged that “files were being stolen” from the office.