In a post on X, the party said the chopper was undergoing a trial run at Behala Flying Club for Abhishek Banerjee’s visit to Haldia in Purba Medinipur district on Monday, when a team of I-T officials arrived and extensively searched it.
“Instead of removing the Director General of NIA (National Investigation Agency) and NIA SP, the Election Commission and the BJP have chosen to deploy minions from Income Tax to search and raid my chopper and security personnel today, resulting in no findings,” Abhishek Banerjee said, referring to the party’s charge that BJP was misusing NIA. The party had earlier alleged that NIA SP Dhan Ram Singh had met BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari days before the central agency arrested two TMC workers for 2022 Bhupatinagar blast
“When the Income Tax officials couldn’t find anything, a frustrated team of Mr Modi’s men didn’t let the chopper fly. When Abhishek Banerjee’s security personnel asked the reason, they (I-T officials) engaged in a verbal spat and threatened to detain the chopper illegally. They opened each and every bag, searched every nook and corner of the chopper,” the TMC said.
These actions, according to Banerjee, are proof that “the BJP is trembling when it comes to Bengal”. “They want to wipe out the Opposition in a bid to come to power again. But TMC will take the Bangla-Birodhi BJP head on, and we won’t budge an inch because of these intimidating tactics carried out by central agencies on the instructions of their Delhi bosses,” the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour said.
He also said that when his security personnel videographed the raid, the I-T officials forcefully got it deleted.
Terming the BJP as “zamindars,” the TMC said, “They can exert all their might, but Bengal’s spirit of resistance will never waver.”
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party national spokesperson Derek O’Brien asked, “Did the desperados find some fruits and fish sandwiches on board?”
As the row erupted a PTI report, quoting I-T department sources, said there was no search or survey of the chopper and the TMC leader was not present there.
“To fulfil the mandate of coordinating with law enforcement agencies to ensure free and fair elections, a team of the Income Tax Department was sent in a routine manner to collect information of the arrival of a helicopter at Behala Flying Club from Malda at around 1300 hrs on Sunday,” the PTI report quoting the sources in the I-T department stated.
“The information of the arrival of the helicopter was received from the Air Traffic Control and after collection of the required information, the officials of the department left the place… The helicopter was carrying two security personnel only,” the PTI report said.
Later in the day, the TMC filed a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging “highhanded executive overreach and abuse of powers exercised by the Income Tax Department with the sole objective of creating impediments for the TMC at the behest of the BJP”.
The TMC asked the poll panel to issue appropriate directions to the I-T Department from taking any steps against the party and its functionaries during the ensuing elections, saying it would hinder their electioneering process.
The party also asked the EC to transfer the officers involved in the “raid” and demanded that they should not be given any election-related duty.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said the I-T raid “was part of the drive to eliminate black money from election campaign”.
“The TMC’s outcry over the raid indicates that its leaders are apprehensive about their ill-gotten wealth. Instead of creating a fuss over the I-T raid, which was aimed at ensuring a clean poll campaign, Banerjee should have quietly cooperated with the officials,” Adhikari, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said.
“Is he (Abhishek Banerjee) above the law of the country,” Adhikari asked.