Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) versus Trinamool Congress (TMC) drama took an ugly turn and reached the high court.
The central probe agency approached the Kolkata High Court alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took away a laptop, phone and multiple documents from the residence of Pratik Jain, the chief of election consultant IPAC and their offices, during an ED raid on Thursday.
Despite being a chief minister, Mamata is “obstructing investigation” and “defending those involved in coal smuggling and money laundering”, ED claimed.
The high court is likely to hear the matter on Friday.
Mamata, on the other hand, accused ED of conducting a politically-motiva
ted raid, engineered by the BJP.
“They (ED officials) have taken our party data, laptop, iPhone and party election strategy including SIR… They have taken our tax papers, our bank account details… You have taken out all data. It is an insult to all the IT sector. Is it not a crime? I am waiting for justice,” Mamata told reporters.
“We are gentle, we are sober, but if you give me pain, I won’t stay quiet. This is not a private organisation. IPAC is authorised by us and they are our team. If we build the data now, the election will be over,” said the three-time CM.
ED denied the Bengal CM’s allegations, saying its search is “evidence-based and is not targeted at any political establishment.”
“No party office has been searched. The search is not linked to any elections and is part of regular crackdown on money laundering. The search is conducted strictly in accordance with established legal safeguards,” ED said in a statement.
IPAC chief Jain’s family also filed a complaint with police against the ED, alleging theft of important documents during the raid, police said.