Overview
- The High Court on Thursday granted the Mamata Banerjee faction conditional access to three HDFC accounts containing about ₹440 crore, allowing withdrawals only for routine party work and legal bills.
- A retired judge, Subrata Talukdar, was named special officer to vet and countersign any two authorised signatories' cheques until September 30 and will be paid from the accounts.
- The Enforcement Directorate has separately frozen the same three accounts under the PMLA over alleged transfers of roughly ₹160 crore to Carewell Aviation for aircraft purchases, and the TMC has moved the High Court to challenge that action.
- West Bengal police later froze 12 additional TMC accounts, taking the total to about 15 accounts with combined deposits reported near ₹1,000 crore and limiting the party's access to funds across banks.
- The dispute stems from complaints by a rebel TMC faction and raises two live questions: which group is the recognised party before the Election Commission and whether rapid police and ED freezes were procedurally justified, a point the High Court flagged as potentially opportunistic.