Daily Briefing: Inside the I-PAC raids

On that note, let’s get to the rest of today’s edition👇

🚨 Big Story

High drama unfolded on Thursday as the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at 10 premises linked to I-PAC, the election management firm founded by Prashant Kishor, in Kolkata and Delhi. I-PAC is currently managing the election campaign of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress for the West Bengal polls, scheduled for later this year.

Searches at the residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain were “met with resistance.” According to a senior ED officer, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at the premises with the state DGP and a local police contingent and carried away files, a laptop, and a mobile phone belonging to Jain. The ED said it would approach the High Court over what it termed state government interference.

As it happened: Mamata travelled from Jain’s Loudon Street residence in Kolkata to the I-PAC office in Salt Lake, carrying a green plastic folder and a laptop, which she said contained crucial information related to her party. TMC supporters had already gathered there. Mamata accused the ED and the BJP of “hijacking” her party’s political strategy. Read how the five-hour drama unfolded.

The charge: The searches are linked to a 2020 CBI case involving alleged coal smuggling kingpin Anup Majee alias Lala. The ED alleges Majee illegally excavated coal from Eastern Coalfields Ltd and sold it to factories, using hawala operators. One such operator is alleged to have facilitated transactions worth tens of crores of rupees to I-PAC. Deeptiman Tiwary has all the details.

‘Agencies weaponised’: Opposition parties have repeatedly accused the Narendra Modi government of selectively targeting their leaders through central agencies. The raids on I-PAC—the first against a private political consultancy firm directly involved in an ongoing election campaign—have triggered unease across the Opposition. Here’s what they had to say.

⚡Only in Express

A recent strike by gig workers has raised questions about their rights and the responsibilities of the companies. What’s the way forward? We asked two experts to weigh in.

Himanshu, an associate professor at JNU, writes that the platforms’ refusal to be identified as “employers” makes it difficult to regulate them using the existing labour laws and social protection measures.

Srinath Sridharan, a corporate advisor, writes: “Gig platforms did not create India’s informal labour tradition. They have industrialised it, digitised it and scaled it faster than our regulatory reflexes have adapted.”

📰 From the Front Page

Threat: US President Donald Trump has greenlit a “Russia sanctions Bill” that proposes 500% tariffs on “all goods and services” imported from countries that “knowingly engage in the exchange” of Russian-origin “uranium and petroleum products”. The Bill would allow the US to push higher tariffs on India, which is already facing a steep 50% charge for its purchase of Russian oil, and could even end India’s exports to the US.

🎧 We deep dive into the Russia sanctions Bill in today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode. Tune in.

I’m out: The US also announced that it was exiting more than 60 international treaties and organisations that “no longer serve American interests”. Among these were several climate-related entities, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This decision marks the US’s complete disengagement with the international climate architecture, jeopardising the existing multilateral processes designed to deal with climate change. How will it impact India? Amitabh Sinha explains.

Closed doors: Days after at least eight people died due to contaminated drinking water, a fresh row is brewing in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore. Two top officials, Collector Shivam Verma and Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav, attended a meeting at the RSS office, where the crisis was discussed. The Congress said the meeting reeked of “administrative impartiality,” while others raised questions over institutional protocols.

📌 Must Read

The Faridabad police on Tuesday lodged an FIR against a national shooting coach, Ankush Bhardwaj, in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a minor shooter. The FIR invokes section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, pertaining to aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and section 351(2) of the BNS, which deals with criminal intimidation.

Also read: Who is Ankush Bhardwaj?

Pioneer: Madhav Gadgil, a renowned ecologist, passed away on Wednesday night at the age of 83 after a brief illness. Nikhil Ghanekar recalls Gadgil’s biggest contributions to environmental protection and how he became the voice of Western Ghats, forests, rivers, and communities. Read.

⏳ And Finally…

Courtrooms are solving the biggest bottleneck — recording and transcribing hearings timely and accurately — with artificial intelligence (AI). Meet TERES (or Technology Enabled ReSolution), which is now used during Constitution Bench hearings, and Adalat AI, employed in courtrooms across nine states. In fact, law firms are also using AI for research and document review. Read all about AI’s expanding footprint in Indian courts.

That’s all for today, folks! Happy weekend!
Sonal Gupta

Business As Usual by EP Unny