A day after the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) raids on political consultancy firm I-PAC sparked a political storm in West Bengal, the stand-off deepened on Friday as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) urged the Calcutta High Court to direct the agency to return “confidential and sensitive data” and documents it had seized. In a statement, I-PAC said the ED searches had raised “serious concerns” and set an “unsettling precedent”, but added it would continue to cooperate with the probe.
These developments came on a day West Bengal CM and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee stepped up her attacks on the BJP, accusing senior party leaders of benefiting from proceeds of the coal scam the ED is probing, while the police filed two FIRs against the investigation agency and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), based on the CM’s complaints, in connection with the events the day before.
In its High Court plea, the TMC urged it to direct “the respondents to return of all articles including but not limited to the private, confidential and sensitive data, information, documents illegally seized in physical as well as electronic form belonging to the petitioner and or in relation to the operation/affairs/business of the petitioner illegally seized during the alleged search operation”. Chaos in the High Court saw the hearing into the petitions of the ED and the TMC postponed to January 14.
Earlier in the afternoon, Banerjee, who joined a 10-km TMC protest march in Kolkata, warned the BJP she could make public the evidence about its “involvement” in the coal scam, if needed.
“They (ED) are talking about coal scam money. Who takes it? Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, how does he take it? One ‘gaddar (traitor)’ sends him money. The money goes to him through BJP Bengal leaders,” Banerjee said after the march.
“You people (BJP) are lucky that I am in power and have yet to expose you in public through those pen drives (I have). If you anger me, I will make public all the content stored in the pen drives. I maintain courtesy to some extent. You should know there is a Laxman Rekha. If you cross that line, I will make them public. For the country’s sake, I kept quiet. Otherwise, the whole world will be shocked. But I am not doing so as I love my country. This is not my weakness,” said the CM.
The TMC hit the streets across the state in protest against the ED action, with her second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee addressing public meetings in Nadia district and the Matua headquarters of Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district. Party MPs in Delhi were detained by the police outside Shah’s office in the morning.
In the High Court, Justice Suvra Ghosh adjourned till January 14 the hearing into the pleas of the ED and the TMC because of commotion in the courtroom. After this, the ED emailed Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul seeking an urgent hearing, but the request was turned down.
The ED, in its petition, urged the High Court to consider 12 points, including a CBI investigation into the actions of the CM and police officials on Thursday. The central agency has also asked the court to direct the TMC leader to immediately return all the documents and electronic records she took from the I-PAC office and I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s home.
Meanwhile, an FIR was registered at the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, which has jurisdiction over Sector 5 in Salt Lake, where the I-PAC office is located, and another was lodged at the Shakespeare Sarani police station in Kolkata in connection with the raid at Jain’s home.
On Thursday, the ED conducted searches at 10 locations linked to I-PAC, which is managing the TMC’s poll campaign. The raids were held in connection with an alleged coal smuggling and money laundering case, the ED said. Around 11.45 am, Banerjee arrived at Jain’s home in central Kolkata and came out of his apartment with a laptop and a green folder. She then rushed to I-PAC’s office about 12 km away and brought out several files, before sitting on a dharna for about four hours.