Kolkata Police have alleged in the Supreme Court that the Enforcement Directorate committed “serious crimes” like theft of documents, unauthorised searches and assault on cops during raids on the premises of Trinamool’s poll consultant I-PAC on January 8.
In an affidavit filed on January 30, then Calcutta police commissioner Manoj Verma also stated that he rushed to the raid sites only to ensure the security of chief minister Mamata Banerjee after receiving reports on the presence of several persons “wearing camouflage jackets and carrying firearms”. In the Supreme Court earlier, the ED had accused Mamata and senior police bureaucrats, including Verma, of disrupting the raids.
“The officials of ED and the personnel accompanying them have behaved in a highhanded manner, and have obstructed Kolkata Police, who were merely discharging their official duty to verify an information about a cognisable offence. Not only did ED officials refuse to identify themselves (even though they were accompanied by personnel carrying firearms), but they also intimidated, threatened, physically assaulted and manhandled Kolkata Police officials who were attempting to go about their duty in trying to establish their identity,” the affidavit filed by Verma states.
“It is respectfully submitted that officials of the ED stand accused of committing serious crimes including inter alia theft of confidential documents and obstruction of public servants on duty,” the affidavit added.
On January 31, Verma was replaced as city police commissioner by Supratim Sarkar as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle by the Bengal government ahead of the Assembly elections.
Verma has filed the affidavit in response to the apex court’s notice to him, the chief minister, the Bengal DGP and others, seeking their replies to the ED’s allegations.
According to Verma’s affidavit, the Shakespeare Sarani police station received information around 9am on January 8 that several armed persons had entered a residential apartment on the third floor of No. 7, Loudon Street, in the early hours and wrongfully confined the occupants. The reference was to the residence of Pratik Jain, the I-PAC chief.
“These persons, who were wearing camouflage jackets and carrying firearms, reportedly refused to identify themselves and also obstructed his (an officer from Shakespeare Sarani police station) entry. The armed persons claimed that they were CRPF officials but they did not show any identity cards or command certificates and rather allegedly threatened and obstructed officers of Kolkata Police,” the affidavit alleges.
Verma submitted that an “alarming situation” emerged, “where armed persons were claiming to be CRPF personnel supporting an ED raid, but no official identification or authorisation was being produced”.
According to Kolkata Police, the ED sent an email to Shakespeare Sarani police station at 11.30am on January 8, intimating the force about the conduct of a search. This was “seen, received and recorded in the General Diary of the Police Station only at about 12.40pm”, the affidavit states.
“No such search authorisation was presented to Kolkata Police by the officials of the Petitioners, who flatly refused to identify themselves to or cooperate with Kolkata Police. The fact that an operation was being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate only emerged after an email was sent belatedly, AFTER Kolkata Police officers had been assaulted, obstructed and prevented from performing their duty,” it adds.
Referring to his presence at the raid site, Verma pleaded: “Since the Hon’ble Chief Minister is a Z+ protectee and carries threats from various anti-national outfits, as Commissioner of Police, the answering respondent was duty-bound to supervise the police arrangements with regard to assessment of threat perception, ensuring secure ingress and egress and deployment of police personnel. In view of such sudden unplanned visit of the Hon’ble Chief Minister to an unsecured place, the presence of answering respondent had become moreimperative.”