New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a petition by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging that ex West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and senior state police officers interfered with search operations earlier this year at the Kolkata office of political consultancy Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria postponed the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED via video link, sought an early listing for next week. “I am requesting for next week,” the Solicitor General said, urging expedited consideration after the bench warned the case might otherwise be taken up only in July.
Mehta told the court that respondents had completed their preliminary submissions and that the ED was ready to proceed with its arguments. The bench subsequently scheduled further hearing for Friday.
The dispute stems from ED searches on January 8 in a multi-crore money laundering probe linked to an alleged coal smuggling racket. The agency alleges that Banerjee, accompanied by police and senior officials, entered the I-PAC office and the residence of its co founder Pratik Jain while searches were underway and obstructed the investigation.
The ED seeks orders to register FIRs against Banerjee, the then Director General of Police and the Kolkata Police Commissioner, and to transfer the probe to the CBI.
At an earlier hearing, the court observed that a chief minister’s alleged interference during an investigation could imperil democratic processes. “This is not per se a dispute between the State and the Union. This is, per se, an act committed by an individual who happens to be the Chief Minister of a State, keeping the whole system and democracy in jeopardy,” Justice Mishra’s bench said orally.
The ED has said its officers were obstructed and “terrorised” during the searches. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, rejected claims that the agency has been “weaponised”, saying instead, “It (ED) has not been weaponised, it has been terrorised.”
In a counter affidavit, Mamata Banerjee denied obstructing the probe, saying her brief presence was to retrieve confidential data belonging to the Trinamool Congress. She said she acted after being informed that sensitive political material related to the party’s strategy for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections was being accessed during the searches. Her affidavit added that ED officials allowed certain devices and documents to be removed and that the searches then continued “peacefully and in an orderly manner”.
The former West Bengal government had also challenged the ED’s petition under Article 32, arguing the dispute was essentially inter governmental. On January 15 the Supreme Court stayed FIRs lodged by the West Bengal Police against ED officers over the searches and directed preservation of CCTV footage and other digital records from the sites.
(Inputs from IANS)