The tit-for-tat petitions filed by the Enforcement Directorate and West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress in connection with the raids on the party's election consultancy firm I-PAC were dismissed by the Calcutta High Court today. The tussle will now continue in the Supreme Court, which will hear a petition from the Enforcement Directorate tomorrow.
The ED had gone to the High Court, alleging that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had walked out with a laptop, phone and multiple documents from the house of Pratik Jain, the chief of I-PAC and their offices, during raids by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Trinamool Congress filed a counter-petition, alleging that the central agency has seized documents on the party's strategy and ideology -- a claim the ED has denied.
"The ED is bullying. They have stormed. They have searched," TMC Counsel Menaka Guruswamy told the single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh today, to which ED counsel SV Raju said, "No need for drama".
"We are not on caveat. We are not party in the SC case... In this matter, I want to make three points. One -- we are not party in the Supreme Court. Two -- data belonging to a political party was searched. We want our political data saved. Political data forms political ideology. Political jurisprudence is under question today. Three -- We respectfully request our political data be returned," Guruswamy said.
The agency requested the court to adjourn the matter because of the petition in the top court. "I'm not running away. Let the Supreme Court hear the matter. There are judgments that states the Supreme Court should hear first. That's the judicial decorum... Heavens will not fall in one week," said Raju.
The ED had reached the Supreme Court on January 10 -- a day after the Calcutta High Court adjourned the hearing of its petition.
In its petition to the top court, the ED said physical documents and electronic devices were forcibly removed by the Chief Minister from the premises in the presence of senior state officials. The probe agency narrated the sequence of events and called the entire matter a "showdown" due to the Bengal government's actions.
The ED has sought a CBI investigation against the Chief Minister, the Kolkata police chief and another senior police officer in its petition accessed by NDTV. The ED has also prayed to the top court to scrap the four First Information Reports filed by the state police against its officers for theft, trespassing and criminal intimidation.
The BJP claimed that the High Court order is a "massive embarrassment" for Mamata Banerjee, reported news agency Press Trust of India. The "corruption" of the Trinamool Congress and its "corrupt link" with the private company will "soon" be exposed, the BJP said, asserting that constitutional authorities cannot be intimidated by political theatrics and the High Court has made that amply clear.
