Enforcement Directorate personnel raided three locations in Calcutta on Thursday as part of their investigation into the money trail linked to the alleged illegal excavation of coal from areas leased to the Eastern Coalfields around Asansol.
Here’s a low-down of the dramatic developments on Thursday, based on sources from the ED, police, and state administration:
Raids
- I-PAC’s office on the 11th floor of Godrej Waterside in Sector V, Salt Lake
- The apartment of its chief, Pratik Jain, on Loudon Street
- A businessman’s house in Posta
When
- An ED team reached I-PAC’s Sector V office around 7.30am. They stepped out at 6.45pm, ringed in by a large deployment of armed CRPF personnel.
- Another team went to Jain’s Loudon Street home around 7.40am. They left around 3pm.
- Around the same time, a third team reached a businessman’s address in Burrabazar’s Posta. This raid continued till late afternoon.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the raids began at 6.30am. Almost five hours later, she arrived at the Loudon Street address. After a brief stay, she left the premises around 11.40am, holding a green file. “... I rang Pratik because he is in charge of my party. They were collecting hard disks, phones. It is because of the election that they are collecting all information about my party. I took it all,” Mamata said while leaving Jain’s house.
From Loudon Street, she went to I-PAC’s office in Sector V and was there till 4.22pm. Mamata left after Jain reached the I-PAC office at 4.15pm.
Why
Case drawn up based on an FIR filed by the CBI in 2020 for alleged pilferage of coal from Kunustoria and Kajoria areas in Asansol, West Burdwan.
The ED said that while tracing the money route from the crime, it emerged that multiple hawala operators were involved in layering the “proceeds of crime”. I-PAC was one of the entities linked to the hawala money, according to the ED.
Seizures
Loudon Street: Sources said the team that went to Jain’s home seized nothing.
The seizure for Loudon Street was “nil.” The panchnama mentioned that the chief minister removed physical documents and electronic devices. Mamata said she collected hard disks, a phone, and documents relating to her party’s internal strategy. “These items belong to us and were strewn around,” Mamata later said.
I-PAC office: ED sources said they seized documents and electronic evidence. These would be examined to collect necessary information about the alleged money trail in the coal case.
Allegations
- Mamata said the raids were aimed at collecting her party’s vital documents related to election strategy and candidate list ahead of the Assembly polls in Bengal. “Amit Shah, if you want to win the elections in Bengal, if you have the guts, come and fight in the election. Why did you raid our party’s IT office and take our documents?” Mamata thundered.
- She alleged that the raids were aimed at getting hold of data that the Trinamool Congress had collected about the ongoing SIR in Bengal and was working on.
- The ED team is said to have entered the I-PAC office with a “forensic team” and transferred the data on the SIR.
- Names are being deleted from the electoral rolls under the pretext of logical discrepancy.
Defence
- The ED said the raids were conducted based on specific evidence and were not targeted at any political party.
- The raids, the ED said, were conducted peacefully until Mamata arrived and took away key evidence. The actions “have resulted in obstruction in ongoing investigation and proceedings under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act),” an ED release said.
Ball in court
- The ED moved Calcutta High Court, accusing the chief minister of snatching “key evidence”.
- I-PAC moved the high court as well
- Justice Subhra Ghosh asked both to formally appeal on Friday.