Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned the scheduled hearing of cases related to the Enforcement Directorate's search and seizure operations at political consultancy firm I-PAC's office on account of unmanageable chaos inside the courtroom.
Justice Suvra Ghosh, in whose court the matter was scheduled to be heard, adjourned the hearing till January 14 after repeated requests to those not connected with the petitions to leave the courtroom fell on deaf ears.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a plea before the high court has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who on Thursday stormed into the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain where the ED was carrying out searches in connection with a money laundering case.
The ED alleged that Mamata, despite being a chief minister, is "obstructing investigation" and "defending those involved in coal smuggling and money laundering".
The Trinamool Congress has also gone to court against the ED. Mamata, who is also the Trinamool chief, has accused ED of stealing the party's election documents.
The chief minister has claimed that the raid is politically motivated and engineered by the BJP. The ED has denied the allegations, saying the search is "evidence-based and is not targeted at any political establishment".
"They came to collect our party's hard disk, candidate list, party strategy and party plan. Is it the duty of ED and Amit Shah"? she said.
"No party office has been searched. The search is not linked to any elections and is part of regular crackdown on money laundering. The search is conducted strictly in accordance with established legal safeguards," the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.
The family of Pratik Jain has also filed a complaint with the police against the ED, alleging theft of important documents during the raid, the police said.
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