The Enforcement Directorate raised concerns about a petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction challenging the freezing of three bank accounts. These accounts hold a total deposit of Rs 440 crore. Initially, the bank authorities imposed debit restrictions on these accounts as per instructions from the West Bengal Police and later the ED.
Last week, the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench granted conditional access to the Trinamool Congress faction. However, complications persisted as the ED, investigating the money laundering aspect, decided to freeze the accounts. To address these ongoing issues, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction approached another single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Rao at the Calcutta High Court to challenge the ED’s actions.
During the recent hearing, the ED’s counsel questioned the admissibility of the petition filed at Justice Rao’s bench. The senior advocate representing the ED, S.V. Raju, demanded clarity on the approval granted for filing the petition. Justice Rao requested the petitioner’s counsel, Kishor Dutta, to address the concerns raised by the ED.
The ED counsel also requested the presentation of the party’s constitution in the proceedings. The party constitution is expected to be submitted at Justice Rao’s bench later in the day, with the matter scheduled for further hearing.
