The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has “vehemently denied” claims that it “permitted” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take away “documents and digital devices” from the Salt Lake office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) Consulting Pvt Ltd and the Kolkata residence of its founder Pratik Jain during search operations carried out in connection with a money laundering case on January 8, 2026 and alleged that she took them away “forcibly”.
In a rejoinder affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, which is seized of its petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged obstruction caused by Banerjee and senior officers of the West Bengal Police, the ED asserted that she “had admittedly entered premises in which an authorised search was being conducted by the ED and thereafter…forcibly took possession of documents and digital devices from the search premises”.
The February 17 affidavit pointed out that she had “admitted this fact” in her “counter affidavit. Although she states that she was permitted to do so without objection by the ED officials, “this assertion is vehemently denied”.
The central probe agency said that the search operation at Jain’s residence, as well as I-PAC’s office premises, was “concluded due to the illegal interventions by” Banerjee and others, and that “due to the intervention and the obstruction by… Mamata Banerjee and senior officials of the State police machinery, nothing could be seized from the premises”.
The ED rejected the contention of the officials that they arrived at the scene only to investigate reports of trespass by armed persons impersonating officials of central agencies, and said it “is wholly false and unsustainable in view of the fact that ED officials had duly displayed their ID cards and search authorisation to the police officials”.
“At around 12:05 hrs… Banerjee visited the premises belonging to… Jain and entered the premises despite categorical requests by” ED official Prashant Chandila “to not to interfere with Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) proceedings,” the ED’s rejoinder affidavit read.
“However, in complete violation of the law… Banerjee, after placing the concerned officers conducting the search in wrongful restraint, forcibly took possession of the digital devices and documents from… Chandila and left the premises at around 12:15 hrs,” it added.
The agency also said that during the course of search at the office premises of the I-PAC, when ED officers were collecting relevant documents and taking back up of a computer and e-mail dump of Ishan Taneja, an employee of the I-PAC, the CM along with senior officials of West Bengal Police entered the premises at around 12:40 pm and took away the documents collected and indexed by the ED officers.
The back-up process for the computer and email dump of Ishan Taneja was also stopped midway, and Mamata Banerjee, aided by state police officers, forcibly took away the computer installed in the premises, it said, adding, “The State Police, on the instructions of Banerjee, also forcibly took away the mobile phones of the employees of I-PAC present at the premise… They also took the laptop of the ED officer and a mobile phone of the said officer and returned it after 2 hours. The taking of the laptop and mobile phone and keeping in their possession for 2 hours also amounts to theft.”
The agency said the conduct of the police officials “clearly demonstrates that” their justification that they were investigating into the possibility of armed individuals impersonating central agency officials, “is a mere camouflage” and “what the police in fact did was intentionally aid and assist the highest functionary of the State Government to forcibly enter into a premise where active statutory search was ongoing and commit theft of incriminating material”.
It said the counter affidavit of the respondents “falsely suggested that…Banerjee requested the ED officials to enter the premises”. “On the contrary, she herself entered the premises along with her Z-plus security personnel… The heavy presence of police personnel to the tune of hundreds itself demonstrates coercion by the State Police and interference with lawful search under the PMLA by the ED officers, and there was no question of acceding to any request for handing over incriminating digital devices in the middle of taking digital back-ups,” it said.
The ED also “denied” the assertion “that material seized by” Banerjee “only contained confidential and proprietary information of the All India Trinamool Congress Political Party…”.
“Once such material has been forcibly retrieved and taken away, it becomes difficult to identify what all was taken away and determine whether or not they were only confidential and proprietary information of the party or whether they also contained information relating to the offence which was being investigated into by the ED,” it said.
The probe agency said “there is no statutory obligation cast upon” it “to intimate the local police about the search proceedings conducted under section 17 o f PMLA, 2002 or any other provision of law” but “in any case, emails informing the police authorities about the search were sent by the ED in the present case on the insistence of police officials”.
The affidavit said “that a bare perusal of the facts would reveal gross abuse of power by the State machinery of the State of West Bengal. Senior officials of the State Police have colluded and obstructed the discharge of functions by officials of the ED under the PMLA, in the private interests of… the Chief Minister…”.
On the panchnama of office premises of the I-PAC, saying that the search was conducted in a “peaceful manner”, the agency said this “is to be understood as signifying that the ED officers did not employ any force or threat during the course of the proceedings.” “However, the said panchnama was recorded under duress and in a coercive atmosphere, owing to the presence of senior officers of the Kolkata Police at the premises,” it added.