New Delhi, April 22 (IANS). The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s petition against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the case related to the raid on IPAC. It is alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had interfered in the ED’s action during the raid on the office of IPAC and the residence of co-founder Prateek Jain.
Actually, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team had raided the office of IPAC and the residence of Prateek Jain on January 8. This action was taken as part of the money laundering investigation into crores of rupees related to the alleged coal smuggling scam. Jensi alleged that Mamata Banerjee had brought many senior administrative and police officers with her. They removed important evidence during the raid without any authority, including laptops, mobile phones and documents containing election data.
During the last hearing, the Supreme Court had termed the incident as a ‘tragic situation’. The court had expressed concern that there are no clear legal remedies in cases where a high-ranking official of a state is accused of obstructing a central investigation.
ED has demanded a CBI investigation into this alleged interference. Along with this, an appeal has also been made to take appropriate action against the Chief Minister and the State Director General of Police (DGP). The agency has argued that if the actions of central investigating agencies are obstructed, they cannot be left without any legal remedy.
On the other hand, the West Bengal government has raised questions on the admissibility of this petition itself. The state government has argued that the ED, being a government department, cannot claim fundamental rights nor directly approach the Supreme Court by invoking Article 32.
The government has also alleged that these actions are politically motivated and aimed at weakening the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
–IANS
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