The ED says TMC paid Rs 160 crore to a little-known firm that bought a jet and a chopper, then rented them back

The Enforcement Directorate's investigation into a Kolkata aviation company has found that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress allegedly paid Rs 160 crore from party funds to Carewell Aviation India to buy an Embraer jet and an Agusta VIP helicopter, which were then rented back to TMC for about Rs 187 crore, the Times of India reported. Sources said the money-laundering probe centres on an interest-free security deposit of Rs 88.5 crore that TMC paid a firm with no money of its own to buy the aircraft. Carewell transferred the deposit to Carewell Flyjet IFSC, registered in Gujarat's Gift City and treated as foreign territory, and used that offshore entity for the purchases. Carewell was incorporated on 14 September 2021 with Pawan Jaju and Ramesh Jaju as directors. It bought the Embraer Legacy 600 on 6 June 2023, two months after the charter agreement and deposit, and the Agusta 109 Grand on 17 April 2025, a month after TMC signed the helicopter charter.

TMC was required to pay Rs 186.9 crore exclusive of GST for the jet over 72 months and the chopper for 56 months. Sources said the party did not fully use the minimum guaranteed flying hours, but still hired other aircraft between 2021 and 2026 for Rs 149 crore. On 8 July 2026, the ED froze three HDFC Bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress holding Rs 440.42 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after searches at five Carewell-group premises, the Indian Express reported the next day. The agency said then that about Rs 160 crore moved to Carewell, mostly between April 2023 and June 2026, that Rs 82.96 crore was routed to a related entity, and that Rs 112 crore was used for the two aircraft. An ED spokesperson also said a $1.7 million unsecured loan was arranged in 2023 from a Cayman Islands entity to buy the helicopter. TOI later said a related transfer of over Rs 16 crore from the Cayman Islands is still under investigation.

Investigators described the structure as an artificial commercial arrangement, because the aircraft were allegedly bought from TMC's corpus and rented back to the same party. The ED has asked why TMC paid the large interest-free deposit on top of rent, and why Carewell charged the party Rs 16.5 lakh per flying hour for the Embraer while billing other customers Rs 7.6 lakh. Sources said TMC also paid Windborne Aviation Rs 9.1 crore for about 11 to 12 hours on a Falcon 2000. After losing the 2026 Assembly election, TMC paid three months' advance rental covering the period until September 2026, which the agency says is contrary to the norm. That is still an allegation. TMC has not answered it on the record.

The ED has questioned Carewell's directors and recorded their statements. A TMC source said the party did not want to comment because the matter is sub judice. The July freeze followed a Bidhannagar Cyber Police FIR after rebel leaders complained about the source of funds, and the Calcutta High Court was already hearing a challenge to debit restrictions on party accounts.