West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee allegedly disrupts ED raid in Kolkata, seizing key documents and electronic evidence linked to coal smuggling probe.
Mamata Banerjee confronts ED officials in Kolkata, removing documents and devices during high-profile money-laundering investigation (Photo: File)
KOLKATA: In one of the most shocking and criticised episodes witnessed in a Parliamentary democracy, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shocked the nation when, on Thursday, she gate-crashed an ongoing Enforcement Directorate raid in Kolkata and took away crucial evidence—both documentary and electronic—relating to a probe into a money-laundering investigation linked to illegal coal smuggling.
The day of high-voltage drama unfolded as the chief minister gate-crashed ongoing searches at the residence of Prateek Jain, head of I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), the consultancy firm managing the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections, and the firm's Salt Lake Sector V offices. The Enforcement Directorate, in an official statement, said that it was probing I-PAC since proceeds of crime were traced to the company. These included funds purportedly used for the TMC's 2022 Goa Assembly election campaign.
ED formally accused Mamata Banerjee of staging an illegal intrusion into active raid sites and "snatching away" crucial evidence. In a strongly worded statement released late Thursday, the ED alleged that the sanctity of a Central investigation was compromised by the highest level of the state executive. The ED said that its team was conducting the search proceedings in a peaceful and professional manner until the arrival of the West Bengal Chief Minister, along with a large number of police officials.
"Banerjee entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain, and took away key evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices," reads the ED statement. The agency confirmed that the raids, spanning ten locations in West Bengal and Delhi, were part of a money-laundering investigation linked to illegal coal smuggling. Officials allege that proceeds of crime were traced to I-PAC including funds purportedly used for the TMC's 2022 Goa Assembly election campaign.
In front of the media, a visibly tense Mamata Banerjee flaunted a cellphone and some files and papers which she said she had recovered from Jain's residence. She then went to do the same in the firm's offices as well. Banerjee accused the agency of arriving "like thieves" to steal the party's confidential data. "They were stealing our party's confidential data from the I-PAC office, which we had authorized. Is it the duty of the ED and Amit Shah to collect the party's hard disk, candidate list?" she said, describing the action as a "vendetta crime".
At Salt Lake, the Godrej Waterside office complex was surrounded by thousands of party members and police personnel even as the Chief Minister, accompanied by her senior most bureaucrats and police top brass, allegedly snatched documents from the ED's team. Police personnel in civilian clothes could be seen taking away bundles of documents and stashing them in the Chief Minister's car.
The ED claimed that searches were proceeding peacefully from 6:30 am until Banerjee arrived at Jain's residence around 12:40 pm with senior police officials, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma. The agency alleged that the Chief Minister forcibly took possession of digital devices, including a laptop, mobile phone, and documents before proceeding to the I-PAC office where similar removal of material occurred. At Salt Lake, she was joined by Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty, her predecessor and Mamata's confidante Manoj Pant. The political tensions escalated further in New Delhi, where several TMC MPs, including Derek O'Brien, Satabdi Roy and Mahua Moitra, were detained while protesting outside the Home Ministry.
