The Enforcement Directorate has summoned the wife and brother of Pratik Jain, co-founder and director of Trinamool and DMK poll consultant I-PAC, for questioning in a money-laundering case, a day after arresting his colleague Vinesh Chandel.

“Pratik’s wife Barbie and brother Pulkit have been asked to depose before the investigators at the agency’s headquarters in Delhi. Their statements will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),” an ED official said, adding that the case was linked to an alleged coal scam in Bengal and related hawala transactions.

The business links of Jain and Chandel are under the scanner, the official said, without elaborating.

In January, two ED teams had raided the Calcutta home of Jain and I-PAC’s Salt Lake office, prompting chief minister Mamata Banerjee to disrupt the operations with senior police and civil bureaucrats. The matter is before the Supreme Court, with the ED accusing the chief minister and the bureaucrats of disruption and Mamata alleging that the central agency had tried to take away Trinamool’s election documents.

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Chandel to 10 days’ ED custody following a midnight hearing after his arrest.

Chandel was produced before additional sessions judge Shefali Barnala Tandon at her residence at 11.55pm on Monday.

After hearing the matter for hours, the court, in an order pronounced around 3.30am, allowed the ED to question him till April 23.

“There are reasons to believe that the arrestee (Chandel) has been actively involved in the processes and activities connected with generation, diversion and possession of proceeds of crime amounting to several crores of rupees,” the court said.

It also noted the ED’s submission alleging that Chandel had attempted to destroy evidence and might further tamper with proof and influence witnesses. The agency said he had given evasive and misleading statements during the initial questioning.

Seeking Chandel’s custody, the ED cited the need to ascertain the role of other suspected beneficiaries, uncover the modus operandiand unearth the “entireconspiracy”.

The ED also drew attention to Chandel’s foreign visits in recent years, indicating a “strong possibility of absconding” and claiming that “there is a well-founded apprehension that he may attempt to evade investigation as he is a frequent international traveller with multiple foreign visits in recent years”.

Defending Chandel, senior counsel Vikas Pahwa argued that the proceedings bore the unmistakable imprint ofmala fide intent and a politically motivated exercise. He referred to the upcoming elections in Bengal and Tamil Nadu, doubting whether the investigation would be fair and impartial.

Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien demanded theimmediate and unconditional release of Chandel and said: “We demand that central agencies be withdrawn from Bengal ahead of the polls.”