ED raids 17 places in Jharkhand and West Bengal The Enforcement Directorate today searched 17 locations in Jharkhand and West Bengal for alleged connections with money laundering funds from Bangladeshis, it is said, entered India illegally. This was a follow-up on a comprehensive probe into money laundering allegedly coming from such funds. The ED has tried to find out illegal operations connected with human trafficking and generation of crime proceeds.
According to reports, the raids were conducted in several districts of election-bound Jharkhand and at some places in neighboring West Bengal. The operation forms part of an ongoing investigation into a case related to the illegitimate entry of Bangladeshi nationals, particularly women, on the Indian mainland allegedly for trafficking and forced labor purposes. The ED had initiated the case under the PMLA after an inquiry into human trafficking activities in which slush funds were created.
The case came to the fore in September 2024, when the Enforcement Directorate filed an official case to probe infiltration and trafficking of Bangladeshi women in Jharkhand. Probe is being conducted on the complaint filed in June 2024 by a Bangladeshi woman in Ranchi. She, as per a complaint filed by her in June 2024, had been trafficked from Bangladesh into India with the help of touts through the India-Bangladesh border.
Allegations Of Trafficking And Fraud
In the compliant, the woman had implicated several people for trafficking women including herself to India on false pretenses. Among the six women listed as suspects were several who were arrested after a raid was carried out at a local resort. The victim reportedly managed to escape from one such guesthouse and then migrated to a police station. When the police during the probe interrogated them, they found that one of the women was carrying a forged Aadhaar card.
In the complaint statement, it was revealed that the women were trafficked to India on the pretext of jobs but were converted upon arrival into prostitution. This is the desperate case of a larger human trafficking issue and exploitation of vulnerable people across borders.
ED Expands Probe To Overall Region
This probe by Enforcement Directorate into the trafficking case doesn’t limit itself to just this case but probes into a larger scheme of illegal infiltration along the borders, particularly in the tribal districts of Santhal Pargana and Kolhan of Jharkhand. According to ED, the inquiry will cover the full scope of infiltration activities into the region from Bangladesh, which is said to experience the most serious impact of such illicit networks.
BJP Blames Jharkhand Government
The political connotations of these raids have been huge, as allegations have been leveled against the Jharkhand government. Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have named the Jharkhand government in public for helping illegals enter India and alleged that this has demographic implications in the tribal-dominated Santhal Pargana and Kolhan regions, wherein many expect that this inflow would alter the local socio-political structure.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath followed suit, accusing the Rohingya refugee and Bangladeshi infiltrator-welcoming coalition headed by the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of turning the state into a “dharmashala.” That’s part of a broader BJP campaign against the state government ahead of next month’s assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that in the event the BJP government came to power in Jharkhand, a committee would be formed for identifying and streamlining the elimination of infiltrators from the state. The committee will also pay attention to reclaiming lands which are said to be occupied by these illegal immigrants.
MUST READ | Indian Army Celebrates National Education Day At Assam’s Tinsukia District School
