Row over searches on I-PAC: ED to move SC, Bengal govt files caveat

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to move the Supreme Court by late Saturday night or early Sunday, alleging interference by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her administration during its searches on political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata.

The West Bengal government, on its part, has filed a caveat before the top court, seeking that no order be passed in the matter without hearing it. A caveat is a precautionary measure in anticipation of a case, and ensures that no ex-parte order is passed.

Both the ED and the Trinamool Congress have already filed petitions in the Calcutta High Court. On Friday, Justice Suvra Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court adjourned hearing on the petitions to January 14 after chaos erupted in the courtroom as soon as proceedings began.

On Thursday, the ED conducted searches at 10 locations linked to I-PAC, which is managing the TMC’s poll campaign. The searches were held in connection with an alleged coal smuggling and money laundering case, the ED said.

While the searches were underway, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at the residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain, and later came out of his apartment with a laptop and a green folder. She also went to I-PAC’s office and brought out several files.

In their petitions, both the ED and the TMC have sought the High Court’s directions for returning all documents.

Sources said the ED’s plea in the apex court is likely to mirror its petition before the High Court.

“We are not being allowed to conduct statutory investigations. The matter could not be heard by the HC due to ruckus in the court. We even wrote an email to the Chief Justice of the High Court and met him personally. But things have not moved forward. So we are petitioning the Supreme Court now,” a senior ED official said.

In its petition before the Calcutta High Court, the ED has accused the Chief Minister and senior police officers of obstructing a lawful search authorised under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), leading to, what it described as, a breakdown of the rule of law.

The ED has urged the HC to “issue a writ of mandamus directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register FIR(s) and investigate the entire incident, including the role of the present respondents being the Hon’ble Chief Minister, police officials, and all persons acting in concert”.

The agency has alleged that its officers were wrongfully restrained and prevented from discharging statutory duties, and that digital devices and documents seized during the search were forcibly removed from lawful custody.

The ED has claimed that the alleged seizure of electronic devices by state authorities has irreversibly compromised digital evidence, disrupted forensic extraction already under way, and broken the chain of custody. It has also alleged intimidation of panch witnesses and obstruction of the search process at I-PAC’s office premises in Salt Lake, resulting in the search being terminated without any formal seizure.

The ED has asked for immediate restoration and forensic preservation of all digital devices and documents taken during the searches, protection for its officers from coercive action or retaliatory FIRs by the state police, and directions restraining state authorities from interfering in ED proceedings. Citing the alleged involvement of the Chief Minister and the state police machinery, the agency has also sought an independent investigation into the incident.

In a press note issued on Thursday, the ED said the searches were conducted in connection with a coal smuggling-linked money laundering probe registered on the basis of a 2020 CBI FIR, and the investigation had uncovered a hawala network through which crores of rupees were routed. The agency said I-PAC was among the entities allegedly linked to these transactions, and maintained that the action was evidence-based, not linked to elections, and carried out strictly in accordance with law.

The TMC, in its plea before the High Court, has sought directions “to return all articles including but not limited to the private, confidential and sensitive data, information, documents illegally seized in physical as well as electronic form belonging to the petitioner and or in relation to the operation/ affairs/ business of the petitioner illegally seized during the alleged search operation.”

It has urged the court to direct the probe agency and others “to act strictly in accordance with law and forbear themselves from harassing the petitioner and or its men, agents… and from taking any coercive steps against the petitioner and/ or its men, agents.. on the pretext of ongoing investigation”.

It has also urged the court to declare “all actions taken by the respondent authorities, so far as the petitioner and private, confidential and sensitive data, information, documents of the petitioner, and in relation to the operation/ affairs/ business of the petitioner, illegally seized in physical as well as electronic form, as void and illegal.”

Meanwhile, the Kolkata police have filed two FIRs against the ED and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).