West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday registered two police complaints against the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its searches at several locations in the state, including the office of political consultancy I-PAC a day earlier, PTI reported.
An unidentified police officer told the news agency that the Kolkata and Bidhannagar Police have registered first information reports and initiated an investigation based on the two complaints.
This came on the same day that the Delhi Police detained Trinamool Congress MPs protesting outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office against what the party alleged were illegal searches by the central agency. The MPs were released from the Parliament Street police station later in the day.
On Thursday, the ED 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.
I-PAC, or the Indian Political Action Committee, has managed the Trinamool Congress’ election campaigns, including in the 2021 Assembly elections.
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 “taking away” party documents ahead of the Assembly elections.
The state is expected to head for polls in the next three to four months.
Banerjee alleged that the ED was confiscating the Trinamool Congress’ “documents and hard disks, which has details about our party candidates” for the elections.
On the other hand, the central agency on Thursday accused Banerjee of entering Jain’s residence and taking away “key evidences including physical documents and electronic devices”.
It stated that the 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.
On Friday, Banerjee filed one complaint against unidentified ED officials and Central Reserve Police Force personnel at the Shakespeare Sarani police station in connection with the searches at Jain’s Loudon Street residence.
She filed a second complaint against unidentified ED officials at the Electronic Complex police station under the Bidhannagar Police in connection with the searches at I-PAC’s office in the Salt Lake area.
A police officer told PTI that the case at the Shakespeare Sarani police station had been filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to criminal intimidation, theft and criminal trespass, as well as under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.
This section deals with computer-related offences, criminalising dishonest or fraudulent acts like unauthorised access or data damage.
Similar sections were invoked in the FIR based on the chief minister’s second complaint.
Additionally, the police also filed a suo motu case at the Shakespeare Sarani police station against the ED on Thursday evening, according to the news agency.
The searches on Thursday 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 ED said.
Hours after the raids by the ED, the Trinamool Congress and I-PAC moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the legality of the searches at several locations linked to the political consultancy in Kolkata and Bidhannagar.
The ED also approached the court, alleging “illegal interference” during its search operations.
During the hearing of the matter on Friday, Justice Suvra Ghosh rose from her chair as there was chaos in the courtroom before she could hear the petitions filed by the ED and the Trinamool Congress, The Indian Express reported.
The court listed the matter for hearing on January 14.
Mamata attends protest rally against ED raids
Banerjee on Friday also took part in a protest rally against the ED raids, saying that one cannot have the Bharatiya Janata Party rule India, the Hindustan Times reported. The Trinamool Congress chief added that the Opposition needs to “win Delhi” after winning the Assembly elections in West Bengal.
Defending her arrival at Jain’s home when the central agency was conducting its raids on Thursday, the chief minister said that she had “every right to protect” herself and repeated her allegations of theft of confidential data.
“Whatever I did yesterday, I did as the All India Trinamool Congress chairperson,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “I did nothing wrong…Why did they [ED] come like thieves? They were stealing our party’s confidential data from the I-PAC office, which we had authorised.”
Banerjee also threatened to “reveal” confidential information about the BJP if she was targeted.
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