Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, on Monday asked Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma and DGP Rajeev Kumar to "pack your bags,” citing the second petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Supreme Court over alleged “wrongful restriction” during the agency’s January 8 raids on the residence and office of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain.
“Kolkata Police are already trapped (because of their actions during the January 8 ED raids). I have learnt that the ED has moved the Supreme Court against the West Bengal government and the state home department. Manoj Verma and Rajeev Kumar, pack your bags,” Adhikari said.
Three ED officials filed the petition in the Supreme Court on Monday against chief minister Mamata Banerjee, DGP Kumar, Verma and his deputy, Priyabrata Roy.
Adhikari, the Nandigram MLA, has been demanding the arrest of the senior police officers who accompanied Mamata during the ED raids, accusing them of helping the chief minister remove files from the custody of the central agency.
After the ED named Mamata and three top police officers in its Supreme Court petition, Adhikari sharpened his attack.
“Suvendu da had clearly hinted that those senior police officers would have to face the consequences. By asking them to pack their bags, Adhikari meant that the time had come to face legal action like arrest,” said a BJP leader.
A source said the Bengal BJP had started communicating with its top leadership in Delhi, seeking action against the officers who were part of the chief minister’s actions.
Mamata has maintained that she took the files in her capacity as the chairperson of the Trinamool Congress, not as the chief minister, claiming they contained political information and a list of candidates for the Assembly polls.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said while the party would not interfere in the actions of the central government, it had already reached out to its top leadership in Delhi regarding the role of officials, including Kumar, Verma and chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty, who were present during the raids.
“I am here as a political leader. It is for the central government to decide on the action against state government officials. However, we have already conveyed our views to our top leadership in Delhi,” Bhattacharya said.
“The chief minister was seen snatching files from the ED, accompanied by the DGP, chief secretary and other officers. This is not just an offence but a criminal offence,” he added.
However, there is a debate within the BJP over whether the ED should have resisted the chief minister from taking away the files.
Some BJP leaders, including MLA Ashok Dinda, believe that ED officials should have made an effort to prevent the alleged file theft, irrespective of the political fallout. Adhikari, however, defended the ED’s decision, saying that had the agency resisted Mamata, she would have turned it into an issue of “attack on Bengal”.
Bhattacharya said the ED didn't need to file a complaint for people in Bengal to understand the alleged criminality of the chief minister’s actions. “She had done such things earlier. Even schoolchildren know this. Earlier, she had staged a dharna when the CBI raided the then Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar's residence. Acting on her directions, Kolkata Police officers dragged CBI officials by their collars,” Bhattacharya alleged.
“There are several corruption cases under investigation. But in this case, there is no doubt that a criminal offence took place, as the chief minister herself came out with the files and admitted to taking them during the ED raids,” he added.