The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to February 10 the hearing on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea accusing the West Bengal government, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of obstructing searches linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, told the court that the state government had filed affidavits and sought time to respond.
On January 15, the top court had described the West Bengal chief minister’s alleged “obstruction” of the ED probe as “very serious” and agreed to examine whether a state’s law enforcement agencies could interfere with a central agency’s investigation into serious offences.
The court had stayed FIRs filed in West Bengal against ED officials who raided the office of political consultancy I-PAC and the premises of its director Pratik Jain on January 8, and directed state police to preserve CCTV footage of the searches.
Notices were also issued to Banerjee, the West Bengal government, Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar and other senior officers on the ED’s plea seeking a CBI probe into the alleged obstruction.
The ED has also alleged that Banerjee entered the raid sites and took away "key" evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices, from the premises of I-PAC and obstructed and interfered with the investigation in the case.
The ED has further claimed in its plea that the chief minister's presence at the search site and the alleged removal of documents had an intimidating effect on officers and seriously compromised the federal probe agency's ability to discharge its statutory functions independently.
The ED's plea in the apex court follows events from January 8, when the agency conducted searches on the premises of I-PAC and Jain in Kolkata as part of a money-laundering probe into the alleged multi-crore-rupee coal-pilferage scam.
During the search operation, Banerjee reached the I-PAC office along with senior TMC leaders, confronted the ED officials and allegedly took away documents from the premises. The chief minister has accused the central agency of overreach.
The West Bengal Police has also registered an FIR against ED officers.
The TMC has denied the ED's allegation of obstruction.
It has further alleged that the ED action against I-PAC, the election consultant of the party, was aimed at accessing confidential election-strategy material.
The party has maintained that I-PAC functions as its election strategist and that the ED's action was intended to disrupt its electoral preparations rather than pursuing any bona fide investigation in the case.
Assembly polls are due in West Bengal in a few months.