The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several others following a plea from the Enforcement Directorate. The probe agency has accused the TMC supremo and state officials of “obstructing” its raid of IPAC premises earlier this month.
“This is a very serious matter. We intend to issue a notice and examine the issue…Larger questions are involved and have been raised, which, if allowed to remain undecided, would further worsen the situation, and there will be a situation of lawlessness prevailing in one or the other state, considering that different outfits are governing different places,” the apex court said.
It also stayed an FIR that was filed against ED officials who raided the I-PAC office and the home of director Pratik Jain on January 8. The state police has been directed to protect the CCTV footage of the raids. The Supreme Court also stressed the need to examine the matter in greater details to ensure that offenders aren’t “protected under the shield of state’s law enforcing agencies”.
ED vs TMC
The apex court said a central agency has no power to interfere with the election work of any party. But at the same time, if central agencies are acting bona fide to investigate any serious offence, the question arises whether agencies can be restricted from carrying out duties under the shield of party activity.
The probe agency had approached the courts after the West Bengal Chief Minister interrupted its raids at locations linked to the political consultancy firm. The investigation is linked to a wider coal smuggling case. ED claims Banerjee had entered the premises and took away “key” evidence related to the probe. The senior politician had lodged two police complaints against the ED in connection with the raids last week.
“What I did yesterday, I did as the TMC chairperson. I have done nothing illegal…They entered at 6 am while I reached there around noon. By then, everything could have been stolen. I first thought they had come to ask or see something. Then I realised they are taking away our party’s documents and strategy details. That is why I rushed there,” Mamata had countered a day after the raids.
Police probe into ‘theft’ of documents by ED
The Kolkata and Bidhannagar Police had filed FIRs and initiated investigations on the basis of complaints lodged by Banerjee. Officials said on Saturday that they had started the process of identifying ED officials allegedly involved in the ‘theft of documents’ from the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain and their office in Kolkata. Police were also trying to ascertain the Enforcement Department personnel who were present at both locations during the operations. Officers from Shakespeare Sarani police station also visited Jain’s residence and collected CCTV camera footage and DVR recordings on Saturday morning. They also recorded the statements of household staff and security personnel as part of the identification process.