The hearing of the I-PAC case has been postponed in the Supreme Court. The hearing was scheduled to take place today, Tuesday, before a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Manubhai Pancholi. The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) lawyer reportedly requested an adjournment to submit an affidavit, and the Supreme Court granted the request. The hearing has been scheduled for February 10, which is next Tuesday.
The government of West Bengal submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Monday, requesting the dismissal of the ED’s case. The state claimed that the ED does not have the right to file this case in the Supreme Court and that the search procedure was flawed.
The affidavit also reportedly claims that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not obstruct the ED’s raid at I-PAC’s Kolkata office. Rather, she went there with permission to collect party-related documents. Following this, on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the ED, requested time to examine the state’s affidavit and to file their own affidavit. The court sought the state’s opinion on the ED’s request. With the state’s consent, the hearing was adjourned.
ED raid at I-PAC office in Kolkata
On January 8, the ED raided the office of I-PAC, the political consultancy firm of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the residence of its head, Pratik Jain. Upon receiving the news, Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee went there and was spotted leaving with some files.
Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister had stated that these were her party’s documents, containing important papers such as election strategies. She alleged that the ED had conspired to seize these documents and stated that she was taking the files with her in the interest of the party. This action led to a conflict with the ED.
The central investigating agency claimed that the search was related to an old coal smuggling case and alleged that the Chief Minister herself obstructed the investigation. They further alleged that she was assisted in this by the state’s Director General of Police Rajiv Kumar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma, and other senior police officers. In response, two separate cases were filed in the Supreme Court on Monday – one by the ED and the other by three ED officers individually.
ED Raid at I-PAC office is a ‘murder of democracy’: Mamata Banerjee
Following the raid, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over its search operations at the office of election strategy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director Pratik Jain, describing the action as a “crime” and a “murder of democracy”. The Chief Minister personally visited both locations during the raids, triggering a political confrontation between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP-led Centre.
The ED carried out simultaneous searches at the I-PAC office in Salt Lake and Jain’s residence as part of an investigation into an alleged coal smuggling and hawala network. According to agency sources, the searches were linked to an old case being probed in Delhi.
Hours after Mamata Banerjee’s remarks, the ED issued a statement accusing the Chief Minister of obstructing the investigation. The agency said searches were conducted at six premises in West Bengal and four in Delhi in connection with a coal smuggling syndicate.
“Proceedings were being conducted in a peaceful and professional manner, till the arrival of West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee along with a large number of police officials,” the ED said. It alleged that Banerjee entered Jain’s residence and took away “key evidences including physical evidences and electronic devices”.
The agency further claimed that at the I-PAC office, Banerjee, her aides and state police personnel “forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidences,” resulting in obstruction of proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).