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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a protest rally in Kolkata on Friday, a day after faceoff with Enforcement Directorate (ED) during its raids on political consultancy firm I-PAC.
The Trinamool Congress chief announced the protest rally against the central investigation agency's searches. She claimed the searches were an attempt to “loot” her party's documents ahead of assembly elections in West Bengal later this year.
The protest rally will be taken out form from Jadavpur 8B bus stand to Hazra crossing. The Chief Minister has urged people to take part in the over 5-km long rally.
High drama unfolded on Thursday during ED searches on the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director, Pratik Jain, in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation.
Banerjee alleged that ED officials were trying to seize the Trinamool Congress’s hard disks, internal documents and sensitive organisational data during a search at the residence of I-PAC chief Prateek Jain. Banerjee made the allegations after appearing from Jain’s Loudon Street residence, where searches have been underway since Thursday morning.
What ED said on Mamata Banerjee?
The ED has accused Banerjee of entering the residential premises of Pratik Jain, the director of top political consultancy group I-PAC, during its ongoing search operation in Kolkata and taking away ‘key evidence’, including physical documents and electronic devices.
In a statement, the ED said that its team was conducting the search proceedings in a peaceful and professional manner until the arrival of Chief Minister, along with a large number of police officials.
"Banerjee entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain, and took away key evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices," read the ED statement.
‘Naughty HM’ jibe
Banerjee visited the I-PAC office on a public road and accused the central agency of unlawfully seizing party-related data, laptops, mobile phones, and strategic documents. She alleged that forensic experts transferred data during the raid, calling it a "crime" and daring Union Home Minister Amit Shah to fight the Trinamool Congress (TMC) democratically in Bengal.
The Chief Minister also termed Union home minister Amit Shah ‘naughty’, accusing him of misusing agencies to intimidate other parties.
“This is not law enforcement. Is this how the nastiest and naughty home minister functions, who cannot protect the country and is sending agencies to harass before elections?” she said.
The BJP response
The Chief Minister said that I-PAC is not a private organisation but an authorised team of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). She claimed the ED confiscated sensitive party documents, including data related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, despite the TMC being a registered political party that regularly submits income tax details.
After the drama, the BJP mounted a sharp attack on TMC chief suggesting there was an attempt to hide incriminating evidence.
"If there is nothing to hide in West Bengal, why would a Chief Minister scramble to secure files from an official investigation site?" the BJP said in a post on X, asserting that the truth would eventually come out and that Bengal would "vote for the BJP.
(With agency inputs)
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