The Supreme Court has refused to stop the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from investigating the seized mobile phones in the political consultancy firm I-PAC raid case. This mobile phone belongs to I-PAC officer Jitendra Mehta, which was seized by ED in the raid on January 8. ED had called Jitendra Mehta to the headquarters on Friday for questioning.
Advocate CA on behalf of Jitendra Mehta. Sundaram appeared before the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and said that the court should stop the Enforcement Directorate from opening the phone as it is a matter of privacy of Jitendra Mehta. Citing the fundamental rights of Jitendra Mehta, he said that the hearing of this case is to be held on Tuesday, till then the ED should be stopped from doing so. On the arguments of Advocate Sundaram, the Supreme Court asked him, ‘Why are you so afraid?’ On the issue of fundamental rights, the court said, ‘We know how to protect an innocent person.’
On January 8, ED had raided the offices of I-PAC in Delhi and Kolkata and the house of the firm’s co-founder Prateek Jain. During this time, the investigating agency had seized digital equipment from the Delhi office, but it could not do so in Kolkata because senior West Bengal Police officer and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached there, due to which the raid was stopped. ED says that the documents and digital devices seized by the agency during the investigation were taken by Mamata Banerjee from the officials.
Hearing is going on in the Supreme Court regarding the I-PAC Raid case. ED has filed a petition demanding a CBI investigation. It has been said in the petition that Mamata Banerjee has obstructed the raid by reaching the place of investigation along with top officials of Bengal Police. Obstructing legal proceedings is a serious cognizable offence. Since senior police officers themselves are involved in this incident, the CBI should be asked to register a case in the matter.
On January 15, the Supreme Court described it as a serious matter and said that a hearing on it is necessary. The court has also issued notice to the state government, Chief Minister and top police officials regarding this. It was also said in the hearing by the ED that Mamata Banerjee has been directly interfering in the functioning of the central investigating agencies in the past as well, in which senior officers of the state police help her. He demanded the suspension of state DGP Rajeev Kumar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma and South Kolkata DCP Priyabrata Roy. The court has also issued notice on this demand.
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