Enforcement Directorate teams ransacked 10 properties across Kolkata and Hooghly on Tuesday, targeting former West Bengal tourism minister Indranil Sen and his wife, Madhuchhanda. The crackdown centers on allegations that the couple, alongside a local businessman, extorted money from devotees by falsely invoking the authority of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Central forces cordoned off the Singur farmhouse and the Sen residence in Kasba, Kolkata, while officers combed through records at Highland Park and other sites. Sources confirmed that a businessman close to Sen is a key suspect in the alleged scheme, which involved collecting funds for Durga Puja in the name of a UN body. The operation marks a sharp escalation from the initial police complaint filed by a Bengal resident in June.
Political fallout arrived swiftly. West Bengal BJP minister Dilip Ghosh declared the government was acting on a corruption complaint, stating, "Immediate action will be taken on complaints. Money collection has started in the name of Durga Puja. All this is illegal and the government is taking measures against it." For Sen, the raid compounds a recent electoral defeat; he contested the Bengal assembly election earlier this year as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Hooghly but lost, leaving him vulnerable to legal scrutiny.
The ED is expected to pursue a formal registration of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act if forensic evidence from the searches corroborates the extortion claims. Legal experts note that misusing a UN agency’s name for private fundraising carries severe penalties, potentially extending beyond simple fraud to criminal conspiracy and cheating.