New Delhi, March 18: The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday. The petition alleges that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee interfered during a raid at the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) office in Kolkata and at the residence of its co-founder, Pratik Jain.
According to the cause list published on the Supreme Court’s website, the case will be presented before a bench led by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice N.V. Anjaria.
During the previous hearing, the ED informed the Supreme Court that it had been “terrorized” in West Bengal.
Representing the anti-money laundering federal agency, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju refuted claims that the ED had misused its powers. Responding to arguments raised by senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra, ASG Raju stated, “The ED has not been used as a weapon; rather, it has been intimidated.”
The bench, led by Justice Mishra, scheduled the next hearing for March 18 and allowed time for arguments to be completed. The ED has approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to file an FIR against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP), and the Kolkata Police Commissioner.
The ED alleges that these individuals obstructed its legal duties during concurrent search operations.
In her counter-affidavit, Chief Minister Banerjee denied all allegations of interference and obstruction. She stated that her limited presence at the site was solely to retrieve sensitive and proprietary data related to her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The affidavit reveals that CM Banerjee visited Pratik Jain’s residence on Loudon Street and the I-PAC office in Bidhannagar on January 8. She was informed that sensitive political data belonging to the TMC was being searched during the raid. This data is crucial for the TMC’s strategy for the upcoming assembly elections.
According to the affidavit, when Mamata Banerjee arrived at the premises, she politely requested the ED officials to allow her to take back the party’s data, which was stored on certain devices and in printed files.
It further claims that the ED officials present did not object to this request and allowed her to take some devices and physical files. After doing so, Mamata Banerjee left the premises to avoid causing any inconvenience to the ED officials.
The affidavit also notes that the ED’s own records indicate that the search continued peacefully and in an orderly manner afterward.
CM Banerjee argued that neither the TMC nor its officials are accused in the alleged coal scam, and therefore, the ED cannot claim any rights over the party’s proprietary data.
The counter-affidavit also accuses the ED of acting with malicious intent. It states that the searches were conducted during the preparation for the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections and after a long period of inactivity.
It questions the timing of these operations, asserting that they occurred when I-PAC possessed significant documents, including a proposed list of candidates for the upcoming elections.
Alleging violations of statutory safeguards under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the affidavit claims that the ED failed to present any audio or video recordings of the searches. It asserts that the searches were conducted secretly with the intent to access confidential political data.
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