Enforcement Directorate seeks fugitive economic offender status for former TMC youth leader Vinay Mishra

India’s Enforcement Directorate has asked a Delhi court to declare former Trinamool Congress youth wing leader Vinay Mishra a fugitive economic offender in cases linked to alleged coal and cattle smuggling in West Bengal.

The agency filed its application before a special court on Sept. 2 under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act of 2018. It is seeking both the fugitive designation and the confiscation of Mishra’s properties. The law applies to economic offenders who remain outside the reach of Indian courts, where the amount involved exceeds ₹100 crore. It also prevents a declared fugitive economic offender from filing or defending civil claims in Indian courts.

Mishra left India in 2020 and later acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. The Enforcement Directorate alleges that his brother, Vikas Mishra, received “proceeds of crime worth ₹730 crore on behalf of some influential persons and for themselves” in 2021 in connection with alleged illegal coal mining. The agency estimates the irregularities in that case at around ₹1,352 crore.

Mishra also faces accusations in a 2020 money-laundering case tied to alleged cattle smuggling in West Bengal. The agency filed a charge sheet against him in April 2022 and identified more than ₹400 crore in alleged proceeds of crime.

The Enforcement Directorate says cattle seized by the Border Security Force were undervalued and auctioned with the help of customs officers. Traders allegedly bought them at very low prices and resold them in Bangladesh, with part of the proceeds allegedly reaching some TMC leaders and government officials. The coal investigation began with a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR registered in November 2020.

If the court approves the request, Mishra would join other high-profile fugitives declared economic offenders, including Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Hajra Memon, Junaid, Asif and Sanjay Bhandari. The allegations remain part of ongoing legal proceedings.

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proceeds of crime worth ₹730 crore on behalf of some influential persons and for themselves