ED-Mamata Banerjee Showdown: Investigation Agency Sources Say Police Threatened Officers With Arrest If They ‘Documented Recovery From Raid’

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of blocking its raid at the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) premises. They said that Mamata Banerjee allegedly seized an official’s mobile phone and intimidated ED personnel. 

According to reports, the raid was underway as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to the I-PAC, which is a political consultancy firm with ties to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). During the raid, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached the premises of I-PAC. They alleged that “Banerjee herself took away the mobile phone of Pratik Jain, an I-PAC official” during the incident. 

According to the ED sources, senior Kolkata Police leadership was present with her, including the Director General of Police. They arrived on the scene and instructed ED personnel not to record anything in the official panchnama (record of seizure). The DGP allegedly told the three ED officers present that they should document “no recovery from the raid, failing which they would be arrested.”

The ED said it approached the Calcutta High Court and gave a written petition, it mentions that “The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee, entered the premises and with the aid of police personnel, forcibly took possession of all digital devices along with key incriminating documents from the possession of the authorised officer. In another premise, a similar incident also happened where files were taken in her car.”

Mamata Banerjee denies accusations

In response to the ED’s version, Mamata Banerjee strongly denied the allegations. She said that the ED was attempting to seize internal TMC documents, hard disks and election strategy material that were unrelated to the money-laundering probe. Banerjee stressed that the ED’s actions are politically motivated and unconstitutional, saying she was “bringing back” her party’s documents, which she claimed had no relevance to the case being investigated by the ED.

Multiple Calcutta High Court filings have now been submitted in connection with the standoff. ED sought judicial intervention, their petition read as follows, “The present writ petition is filed invoking the writ jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court to instil public confidence in the functioning of the State Government and to immediately prevent the over-action of the State Police and the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State, Ms. Mamta Banerjee.” 

It further read that,”State Police of West Bengal in collusion with Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal in flagrant and blatant disregard to law has failed to discharge its public duty mandated under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS, 2023), and has obstructed the Petitioner Officers in discharging their official duties mandated under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.”

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