The West Bengal government has received a setback from the Supreme Court in the case of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s interference during the ED raid. Describing it as a serious matter, the court has issued a notice to the state government, the Chief Minister and top police officials. Besides, the FIR lodged by the police against ED officials has also been banned. The court has asked all the parties to file their replies within 2 weeks. The next hearing of the case will be on 3 February.
What is the matter?
On January 8, ED officials had reached the house of political strategist Prateek Jain and the office of his organization IPAC in Kolkata to search. During this raid related to coal scam, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached Prateek Jain’s house with heavy police force. Mamta picked up the documents from there and took them with herself. ED has filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that disrupting legal action by bringing along armed people is a serious cognizable crime. Since senior police officers themselves are involved in this incident. Therefore, CBI should be asked to register a case in the matter.
What did the judges say?
The bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M Pancholi said that the ED officials were following the orders issued lawfully during the investigation of a case. First, top officials of West Bengal Police reached the site of the ED raid and after some time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself arrived. She also took away the documents from there. This is a serious matter. Hearing on this is necessary in the Supreme Court.
Notice also on demand for suspension
The judges also took on record the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of ED, that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been directly interfering in the functioning of central agencies in the past also. State police officers cooperate with them in this. During the hearing, ED demanded 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.
Order to preserve footage
The Supreme Court has ordered that the remaining records related to the case, including the CCTV footage of IPAC office and Prateek Jain’s house, should be preserved. During the hearing, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal argued on behalf of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on behalf of West Bengal government. He said that IPAC prepares the election strategy of Trinamool Congress. Mamta Banerjee had gone there in the capacity of party president. Their objective was to protect confidential documents related to the party’s strategy. ED is presenting the case out of proportion.
‘Police had arrived for security’
Singhvi also said that Mamata Banerjee has Z Plus security. Police officers had reached there for their safety. ED’s Panchnama does not write anywhere that the CM or the police did any illegal activity. Singhvi and Sibal also said that the case should be allowed to be heard in the High Court.
‘Court turned into Jantar Mantar’
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, told the judges that when the case came up in the High Court on January 9, a large number of people reached the court room. The legal cell of Trinamool Congress had appealed to do this. The judge could not hear the case that day due to the huge crowd. Commenting on this, the judges said, “That means the court room was turned into Jantar Mantar.” Sibal opposed this and said that now the hearing is going on smoothly in the High Court. But the judges said that the matter is very important. He is issuing notice on the ED petition.
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IPAC Raid Case: ‘Crowd gathered by sending messages on WhatsApp’, SC asks TMC on ED’s allegations – Is the court Jantar Mantar?
