ED raid at I-PAC office: Fresh row in Bengal over ‘presence’ of top officials, including chief secy, with Mamata Banerjee

The controversy further escalated when Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she had gone there as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). (File Photo)

A fresh row has erupted in West Bengal over the alleged presence of Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Manoj Pant and other officials with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at I-PAC’s Sector V office during the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on Thursday. The controversy further escalated when Banerjee said on Friday that she had gone there as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The ED had on Thursday conducted raids at multiple locations in Kolkata and Bidhannagar, including those linked to the political consultancy firm I-PAC, in connection with a money laundering case linked to the coal smuggling scam. In all, the central agency raided four places in Delhi and six in Bengal, including I-PAC’s office and the residence of its director Pratik Jain. In a statement, the ED said proceeds of the scam, amounting to crores, were sent to I-PAC through hawala channels.

The searches covered I-PAC’s office on the 11th floor of a Salt Lake building, the Loudon Street residence of Jain, and the office of a trader in Posta, Burrabazar. Soon after the raid, Banerjee reached Jain’s residence and allegedly snatched some files, laptop and documents from there. Then she rushed to the I-PAC office at Sector V in Salt Lake.

As per sources with the administration, Chakravorty, Pant and other officers also reached Salt Lake after some time. A senior official with the state administration said, “Police officers can go anywhere with the chief minister because there may be a security threat or law and order issues. But there was no need to rush physically to the spot, especially where a security agency was conducting a search operation. It is gross misconduct.” He further added, “I can remember both Jyoti Basu or Buddhadev Bhattacharya never met any officers in their party office or residence.”

Criticising the development, BJP state vice-president Jagannath Chattopadhyay said, “In West Bengal now, politics and governance are completely mixed in nature. The chief minister can’t differentiate between governmental and non-governmental practices. IAS officers, including the chief secretary, are also entangled in this political system. This is a completely pathetic situation.”

A former IAS officer said, “On February 3, 2019, Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna in Kolkata’s Esplanade area after a CBI raid on then Kolkata Police Commissioner and current DGP Rajeev Kumar’s home in connection with its probe into the Saradha Ponzi scheme case. At the time, Malay De was the chief secretary and he refused to go on the dharna mancha when the chief minister proposed to hold a Cabinet meeting there. Later, that Cabinet meeting was held on PWD premises near the dharna mancha.”

Alleging collusion between the TMC and BJP in the matter, CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, “Mamata Banerjee herself said that she went there as a Trinamool Congress leader. Then why did she have Z-category security and too many police officers? It could be argued that she needed security cover owing to threats from within her party. But how and when did the chief secretary and the principal secretary become part of this security cover? Why did they go there?”

He added, “Why is the state government or Centre not taking steps against them? It basically proves that in West Bengal, everything is mixed up and messed, and that it is another friendly match between the state and Centre.”