Money-laundering probe: ED alleges raid was peaceful until CM Mamata Banerjee arrived
The ED alleged West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee obstructed a money-laundering probe linked to a coal smuggling syndicate. The agency claims Banerjee removed evidence during I-PAC raids, while the CM dismisses these allegations as politically motivated "vendetta" aiming to seize TMC's internal documents and election strategy.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hampered an ongoing money-laundering investigation, claiming that search operations were carried out "in a peaceful and professional manner until the arrival of the Bengal CM”, along with senior state police officials.
Issuing a statement, the ED said searches were being conducted at 10 places, six in West Bengal and four in Delhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act linked to an alleged coal smuggling syndicate led by Anup Majee.
What did the ED claim
The ED claimed that the raids faced obstruction after Banerjee arrived at the residence of Pratik Jain, the I-PAC chief, along with a large number of police personnel.
"Mamata Banerjee entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain and took away key evidences, including physical documents and electronic devices,” the ED said. It also alleged that the CM's convoy then moved to I-PAC’s office, from where "Banerjee, her aides, and state police personnel forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidences”.
The agency added that the probe had unearthed links between the coal smuggling network and hawala operators, with the proceeds of crime amounting to tens of crores of rupees. The ED claimed that one such hawala operator facilitated transactions to Indrapac Consulting Private Limited (I-PAC), a political consultancy firm associated with the Trinamool Congress.
The ED underlined that these actions led to obstruction of an ongoing investigation. The agency said that the searches were evidence-based, not targeted at any political establishment, and not related to polls. "No party office has been searched,” it said. The ED added that the operation was part of a routine crackdown on money-laundering and was conducted strictly in accordance with legal safeguards.
What did Mamata Banerjee say
Banerjee dismissed the allegations, while accusing the ED of trying to seize the TMC’s internal documents and election strategy. Talking with reporters after visiting Jain’s residence and the I-PAC office, the CM alleged that ED officials were seizing party documents, hard disks, laptops and mobile phones containing sensitive political data. She dubbed the searches as politically motivated and unconstitutional. She claimed that the raid amounted to "political vendetta”.