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ED vs Mamata: ED says CM ‘stormed in with cops during peaceful raid', she calls HM Shah ‘naughty’
The Enforcement Directorate and I-PAC have moved the Calcutta high court over the searches at the office and residence of Pratik Jain.
The ED (Enforcement Directorate) on Thursday alleged search proceedings at the residence I-PAC head Pratik Jain in West Bengal's Kolkata and political consultancy group's office were peaceful till chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived with “a large number of police officers”.
ED statement came hours after Mamata Banerjee's dramatic visit to I-PAC chief Pratik Banerjee's residence and office on Thursday afternoon amid raids that the central agency said were linked to a money laundering case connected with coal smuggling.
Today's raids were linked to people who generated proceeds of coal smuggling, PTI news agency quoted ED's statement on Thursday.
In videos of her visit, Mamata Banerjee appeared furious and charged, sentiments that reflected in her speech later in which she challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “democratically” defeat her party - Trinamool Congress (TMC) - in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections. She also called home minister Amit Shah “nastiest” and “naughty”.
Hawala operator linked to coal smuggling in Bengal facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to I-PAC, the ED alleged.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate and I-PAC moved the Calcutta high court over the searches at the office and residence of Pratik Jain. The ED moved the court alleging interference in its investigation, while I-PAC challenged the legality of the searches.
Mamata calls Shah ‘naughty’
In her attack at the BJP-led central government, under which ED functions, Mamata Banerjee described the search as an act of “political vendetta”, and termed Union home minister Amit Shah as “naughty”, accusing him of misusing constitutional agencies to intimidate opposition parties.
“This is not law enforcement. Is this how the nastiest and naughty home minister functions, who cannot protect the country and is sending agencies to harass before elections?” she said after visiting the residence of Pratik Jain.
“After this, you will be reduced to zero. I am sorry Mr Amit Shah, the Prime Minister must control his home minister,” she added.
The dramatic ED raid
Search operations, which ED said were linked to a money laundering case investigation, were conducted at the office of the I-PAC, (Indian Political Action Committee), which does political consultancy for West Bengal ruling party TMC and also looks after its IT and media cell, apart from Pratik Jain's residence.
TMC supremo supremo arrived at Jain’s residence around noon, minutes after Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma reached the spot, and stayed for 20-25 minutes before emerging with a green folder in her hand, according to the chain of events mentioned in a PTI report.
“They have raided the residence of our IT chief. They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which has details about our candidates for the assembly polls. I have brought those back,” she said, holding two microphones after visiting I-PAC's office.
In a dare of sorts, Mamata Banerjee asked, “What will happen if we reciprocate this ED search by raiding BJP party offices in Bengal; we are exercising restraint.”
“If you [BJP] cannot fight with us, then why are you coming to Bengal, Mamata Banerjee asked, challenging the rival party to ”defeat" the TMC “in a democratic way”.
"You are using agencies to loot our papers, our strategy, our voters, our data, our Bengal... By doing all this, the number of seats you were getting will be reduced to zero. I am sorry Mr Prime Minister, please control your home minister...," Banerjee said.
Taking a swipe at CM Mamata Banerjee, the BJP said on X, “A sitting Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) rushing to the spot, looking clueless and breathless, to collect party documents and hard disks is not damage control; it indicates a deeper conspiracy.”
“Oh, the distraught. Oh, the fear. Oh, the worry,” official BJP handle's X post read.
“When the ED raided the I-PAC office and the residence of its chief Pratik Jain, what followed raised far more disturbing questions. A sitting Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) rushing to the spot, looking clueless and breathless, to collect party documents and hard disks is not damage control; it indicates a deeper conspiracy,” it stated.
“If there is nothing to hide in West Bengal, why would a Chief Minister scramble to secure files from an official investigation site? And that too, from a private organization's office?” the post further read.
