The Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that the incident in Kolkata on January 8, when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee barged into the premises of I-PAC during a raid, reflected a “shocking pattern.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, told a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Pancholi that there was evidence suggesting incriminating material was present in the office of the political consultancy firm in Kolkata.
"The states will feel they can barge in, commit theft, and then sit on a dharna. Let an example be set; officers who were explicitly present there should be suspended," Mehta said.
He further added that this was not the first instance when Banerjee interfered in a statutory process. "Whenever statutory authorities exercise their powers, Banerjee barges in, the Commissioner of Police comes with her, and they sit on a dharna,” Mehta stated. "It reflects a shocking pattern emerging," he added.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing the state government, refuted the ED’s claim that Banerjee and her team had taken documents from the I-PAC office.
"Please see the video recording. It is a blatant lie that all digital devices were taken. Check the panchnama. This is just to create prejudice,” Sibal argued.
“She took the personal iPhone and laptop, which contained election information. The panchnama notes that the search and seizure were carried out peacefully. This is signed by the ED. The averments in their plea contradict their own panchnama, which includes party and election material.”
The ED has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking directions for the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Banerjee, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP), and the Kolkata Police Commissioner, alleging obstruction of its money laundering probe linked to I-PAC.
In its petition, the ED claimed that its officers were intimidated, threatened, and prevented from performing their statutory duties during the search and seizure operations.
The ED has also filed a plea in the Kolkata High Court seeking a CBI probe into the January 8 incident, alleging that investigators were attempting to seize sensitive data related to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.