The Trinamool Congress and political consultancy firm I-PAC on Thursday moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging the legality of searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate at several locations linked to the firm in Kolkata and Bidhannagar earlier in the day, The Times of India reported.
Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate also approached the Calcutta High Court, alleging “illegal interference” during its search operations. The matter is slated to be heard on Friday.
The central agency on Thursday conducted searches at I-PAC’s office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area, the residence of the firm’s head Pratik Jain and the office of a trader in the city’s Posta neighbourhood in connection with an investigation into alleged money laundering.
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at Jain’s home around noon while the search was underway and stayed for about 20 to 25 minutes. She then came out with a green file and claimed that the central agency’s officials were seizing party documents ahead of the Assembly polls.
On Friday, Banerjee will lead a protest in Kolkata against the Enforcement Directorate’s searches, ANI reported.
“Is it the duty of [Union] Home Minister Amit Shah and the ED to take away all my party documents?” she asked. “If I go to the Bharatiya Janata Party office, what will be the result?”
I-PAC, founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor, had managed the TMC’s campaign during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, which the party won by a landslide. The state is expected to head for polls in the next three to four months.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday accused Banerjee of entering Jain’s residence and taking away “key evidences including physical documents and electronic devices”.
The central agency stated that searches had been conducted in a “peaceful manner” until Banerjee arrived at the site. It claimed that the “search is evidence-based and is not targeted at any political establishment”, and said that no party office had been searched.
The searches were based on a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation into an alleged coal smuggling syndicate that was used to “steal and illegally excavate coal from ECL [Eastern Coalfields Limited] leasehold areas of West Bengal”, the Enforcement Directorate said.
Banerjee alleged that the ED was confiscating the TMC’s “documents and hard disks, which has details about our party candidates for Assembly polls”.
“I have brought those back,” she said.
She also claimed that ED had “raided my IT sector office, and searched the residence of the in-charge of my IT sector”.
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