Mamata hits the streets as face-off with BJP heats up

An unprecedented confrontation between the West Bengal government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) intensified on Friday as chief minister Mamata Banerjee led a huge rally in Kolkata and vowed to not back off even as the federal agency sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against the politician.

The developments came on a day the Calcutta high court postponed the hearings on petitions filed by ED and Trinamool Congress’s poll strategy firm I-PAC, citing ruckus in the courtroom, and the Kolkata police registered separate cases on complaints filed by Banerjee herself.

On Thursday, ED searches at the offices of political strategy firm I-PAC in Kolkata and the residence of its director, Pratik Jain, turned into a pitched political battle. Even as the searches were on, Banerjee stormed into Jain’s residence, and took away documents and a laptop, accusing ED of seizing her party’s internal documents and sensitive data relating to the 2026 assembly polls, including the candidate list. The agency accused the TMC chief of interfering in the ED’s action and taking away evidence.

“I rise when someone tries to hurt me. Yesterday, it felt like I had come alive,” Banerjee said after holding a rally between Jadavpur and Hazra, targeting the BJP, federal agencies and the Election Commission of India, accusing it of trying to delete genuine voters in the ongoing special intensive revision.

In its petition against Banerjee, ED alleged around ₹20 crore proceeds of crime generated in the West Bengal coal mining racket were transferred through hawala channels to I-PAC, seeking a CBI probe against Banerjee, senior state police officers and others for obstructing its operation.

The agency accused Banerjee of intimidating its officers, forcibly taking away evidence, and hijacking witnesses. HT has reviewed a copy of ED’s petition.

I-PAC, in a statement, said that its role is limited to transparent and professional political consulting, uninfluenced by differences in political ideology. “We believe this [the raids] raises serious concerns and sets an unsettling precedent. Regardless, we have extended full cooperation... engaging with the process in complete accordance and respect for the law,” the statement added.

According to the ED petition, the probe, ongoing since 2020 in the coal smuggling syndicate led by an individual named Anup Majee, revealed that the proceeds of crime (PoC) were moved through both international and domestic hawala routes. “Concrete material found during investigation revealed that at least ₹20 crore worth of proceeds of crime was transferred to IPAC through hawala channels,” it said.

ED’s money laundering probe in the matter is based on a CBI First Information Report (FIR) registered in November 2020 on allegations that coal was being illegally mined at Eastern Coalfields Ltd‘s mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in West Bengal. The agency previously questioned TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, alleging that he is a beneficiary of funds obtained in the illegal mining.

In the high court, a single bench of justice Suvra Ghosh, before whom ED and Jain’s family filed the petitions, expressed displeasure on seeing a crowd of lawyers not related to the cases in the courtroom. When the crowd did not disperse following her direction and the ruckus continued, the judge walked out saying the petitions would be heard on January 14.

Lawyers said ED promptly appealed to acting chief justice, justice Sujoy Paul, to shift the case to another bench so that its petition could be heard immediately. By the evening, justice Paul’s office informed ED’s lawyers that their appeal had been rejected as justice Ghosh passed an order postponing the hearing.

On Thursday, ED teams, accompanied by paramilitary personnel, searched about 10 premises across West Bengal and Delhi, including I-PAC’s Salt Lake office in Kolkata and Jain’s house at Loudon Street in south Kolkata. The searches started around 6am.

Banerjee reached Jain’s home at 12.05pm with Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma and then I-PAC’s Salt Lake office at 12.50pm with director general of police Rajeev Kumar. Banerjee left the Salt Lake office late in the afternoon after a large number of files were taken out of the office and loaded into one of the cars in her convoy. Eyewitnesses said there was a verbal altercation between Banerjee and ED officials.

In its petition, ED said its search was going on peacefully from 6.30 am till 12.40 pm until the chief minister with other police officers “entered and obstructed the search”.

“Violating all law and order, Banerjee 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 and left the premises at about 12:15pm,” the agency said.

The agency alleged that Banerjee, with the aid of cops, has “forcibly removed, seized away, concealed, and stolen” the digital devices, electronic storage media, and key incriminating documents, which amounts to theft, criminal trespass and destruction of evidence; besides intimidating and wrongfully confining the ED officers.

It requested the high court to order CBI to register a case and investigate the entire incident, including the role of Banerjee, police officials, and “all persons acting in concert” apart from “immediate seizure, sealing, forensic preservation, and restoration to ED of all digital devices, electronic records, storage media, and documents illegally and forcibly taken away from the search premises”.

In Kolkata, the state police filed a suo motu case against ED and a separate case - based on Banerjee’s e-mail complaint - under Sections 3 (5) (common intention) , 303 (2) (theft) and 332 (3) (trespassing to commit crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act (computer related offence). A similar case was registered by the Salt Lake Electronic Complex police station.

Bengal BJP leaders held agitations at several locations. “Why should the chief minister not be arrested for interfering in the operations of a federal agency? India never witnessed such a thing,” Bengal BJP vice-president Agnimitra Paul said.