The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till February 10 the hearing of the plea by the ED alleging obstruction by the West Bengal government, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in the search operation at the I-PAC office and its director Prateek Jain’s premises in connection with the coal theft scam.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the media with party leaders outside the Election Commission office in New Delhi. (PTI)A bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria adjourned the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stating that the state government had filed an affidavit in this regard and sought time.
The top court on January 15 said the West Bengal chief minister’s ED probe into the allegations was “extremely serious” and agreed to examine whether a state’s law enforcement agencies can interfere with the central agency’s probe into a serious crime as it stayed the FIR against agency officials who raided political consultancy I-PAC on January 8.
The top court, while staying the FIRs filed in West Bengal against the ED officials, directed the state police to preserve the CCTV footage of the raid.
It had issued notices to Banerjee, the West Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top cops on the ED’s plea seeking a CBI probe against them for allegedly obstructing raids on I-PAC premises.
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The ED also alleged that Banerjee entered the raid sites and took “key” evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices, from the premises of I-Pac and obstructed and interfered with the investigation of the case.
The ED in its petition also claimed that the Chief Minister’s presence at the place of inquiry and alleged removal of documents had an intimidating effect on the officers and seriously compromised the ability of the federal investigating agency to perform its statutory functions independently.
The ED’s plea in the Supreme Court follows the events of January 8, when the agency raided the premises of I-PAC and Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged multi-crore coal theft scam.
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During the search operation, Banerjee allegedly reached the I-PAC office along with senior TMC leaders, confronted the ED officials and seized documents from the premises. The chief minister accused the central agency of overreach.
The West Bengal Police has also registered an FIR against the ED officers.
TMC denies ED’s obstruction charge.
It also alleged that the ED’s action against the party’s election consultant I-PAC was aimed at accessing confidential election-strategy material.
The party maintains that I-PAC acts as its election strategist and the ED’s move was intended to disrupt its election preparations rather than any genuine investigation into the case.
Assembly elections in West Bengal in a few months.
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This story appeared from a wire agency feed without text changes. Only the title has been changed.
