New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, adjourned to February 18 the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) petition seeking a CBI probe into alleged obstruction by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and officials during ED raids on I-PAC offices linked to a coal pilferage scam, reports said.
A bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Sandeep Mehta deferred the matter after it was informed that senior advocate Kapil Sibal was unwell. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed to the adjournment.
The apex court on January 15 said the West Bengal chief minister’s alleged “obstruction” in ED’s probe is “very serious” and agreed to examine if a state’s law-enforcing agencies can interfere with any central agency’s probe into any serious offence as it stayed FIRs against the agency’s officials who raided political consultancy I-PAC on January 8.
The apex court, while staying the FIRs filed in West Bengal against ED officials, also directed the state police to protect the CCTV footage of the raids. It had issued notices to Banerjee, the West Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top cops on the ED’s petitions seeking a CBI probe against them for allegedly obstructing raids at I-PAC premises.
The ED has also alleged that Banerjee entered the raid sites and took away “key” evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices, from the premises of I-PAC and obstructed and interfered with the investigation in the case.
The ED’s plea in the apex court follows events from January 8, when the agency conducted searches on the premises of I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money-laundering probe into the alleged multi-crore-rupee coal-pilferage scam.
During the search operation, Banerjee reached the I-PAC office along with senior TMC leaders, confronted the ED officials and allegedly took away documents from the premises. The chief minister has accused the central agency of overreach. The West Bengal Police has also registered an FIR against ED officers. The TMC has denied the ED’s allegation of obstruction.
