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SC raps Bengal govt over ED I-PAC raid drama, issues notice, stays FIRs against agency officials
The court posted the ED's plea for hearing on February 3 and directed the West Bengal police to protect CCTV footage of raids on I-PAC premises.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the West Bengal government, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the police on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) petition seeking a CBI probe for allegedly obstructing raids at I-PAC last week and taking away evidence.
The court described the ED's allegations as "very serious" and agreed to examine whether a state's law-enforcing agencies can interfere with a central agency's probe into any serious offence.
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During the hearing, the court also said that there are larger questions which emerge in the ED's plea and if not answered it shall lead to lawlessness, news agency PTI reported. The court posted the ED's plea for hearing on February 3 and directed the West Bengal police to protect CCTV footage of raids on I-PAC premises.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Pancholi issued notices to Mamata, Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top cops following the ED's petitions.
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Rapping the Bengal government, the court said, “It is necessary to examine the issue so that offenders aren't allowed to be protected under shield of state's law enforcing agencies."
The court also maintained that a central agency has no power to interfere with the election work of any party. However, if central agencies are acting bona fide to investigate any serious offence, the question arises whether agencies can be restricted from carrying out duties under the shield of party activity, it said.
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The court was hearing a petition by the ED over the alleged obstruction of agency's raids in Kolkata last week on I-PAC, firm that does political consultancy for Mamata-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
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The probe agency told the court that Mamata has a “shocking pattern” of barging into premises during proceedings by statutory authorities. In the petition, the ED had sought directions to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the West Bengal government to suspend key police officers, including West Bengal DGP Rajiv Kumar, Manoj Kumar Verma, Kolkata Police Commissioner, and Priyabatra Roy, DCP South Kolkata, for allegedly interfering in the agency's raids last week.
High drama over ED raids on I-PAC
Dramatic events unfolded in Kolkata last Thursday when CM Mamata Banerjee “rushed” to the residence of I-PAC's Pratik Jain amid Ed raids as she claimed that officials attempted to “loot” her party TMC's hard disks as well as internal documents and sensitive data.
She described the raids as “politically motivated and unconstitutional” and was seen visibly charged, dodging media persons to make her way amid noisy scenes in videos of the incident shared on social media.
“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,” PTI news agency quoted Mamata Banerjee as saying.
With inputs from agencies
