The Calcutta High Court declined to let the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC operate four more frozen bank accounts, holding its July 9 Special Officer arrangement, upheld by the Supreme Court, already protects the party. The court’s decision was made in response to a writ petition filed by the TMC, which argued that the freezing of the accounts would hinder the party’s ability to function.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharya was hearing the petition. Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy submitted that four more of the party’s bank accounts had been frozen by the State police’s Cyber Cell on July 7, in connection with the same FIR that underlay the earlier freezing. The four accounts are reported to hold around ₹804 crore.
The party’s argument is that a political party cannot function on rent and salary payments alone, and that it also has to organize rallies and carry out other political activities. Guruswamy pressed that the relief already granted did not capture the full range of a political party’s constitutionally protected activities.
She acknowledged that the earlier order covered salaries and rent expenses the Special Officer could assess and clear but submitted that a party incurs other expenditure that is equally part of its functioning. The allegations and submissions recorded are those made by the parties before the Court; nothing has been adjudicated, and the underlying criminal case remains at the investigation stage.
Justice Bhattacharya pointed to the framework he had already put in place. He observed that his July 9 order had permitted operation of certain accounts only for day-to-day expenses under the supervision of a Special Officer, and that beyond that limited purpose the accounts were not to be operated.
Justice Bhattacharya observed that if he were now to pass a broader order allowing operation of the four accounts, it would be inconsistent with and would “fault” his July 9 order, the integrity of which the Supreme Court had affirmed. He put to Guruswamy that even if the party were allowed to operate the accounts, little would remain to be decided finally.
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The dispute traces to a complaint lodged in June 2026 by a rebel TMC MLA with the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police, alleging that funds had been routed through the party’s accounts by way of illicit proceeds and suspicious transactions. An FIR followed, on the basis of which the Enforcement Directorate registered an Enforcement Case Information Report and, in July, froze three of the party’s private-bank accounts said to hold around ₹440 crore.
In practice, this development means that the TMC will have to continue operating under the constraints imposed by the court’s earlier order, which may limit its ability to carry out certain political activities. They will have to rely on the Special Officer to oversee the operation of its accounts, which may hinder its ability to respond quickly to changing circumstances.
The Court held that no further interim direction was warranted, and that the matter would proceed to a full hearing after the exchange of affidavits. Guruswamy accepted the position, telling the Court that the party would argue the matter fully in due course. The litigation runs against the backdrop of an intra-party contest for control of the Trinamool Congress between the Mamata Banerjee-led faction and a dissident group, with the allegations yet to be tested.
Nothing in the present matter has been finally decided; the freezing, the allegations of tainted transactions, and the challenge to the FIR all remain to be tested when the Court takes up the petition after affidavits are filed.
The case is Calcutta High Court case number WPA/20410/2026.
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